April 20 coronavirus news

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro joined a rally in the country's capital on Sunday, where protesters called for an end to quarantine measures and some urged military intervention to shut down Congress and the Supreme Court.

Congress and the Supreme Court have supported social isolation measures imposed by governors.

The President didn’t wear a mask and coughed several times while speaking to the crowd of a couple of hundred supporters in Brasilia.

The rules in Brazil: National and local governments in the country have issued mixed messaging on how to behave during the pandemic. While Bolsonaro has been pushing against strict restrictions, state and local governments in some of Brazil's hardest-hit areas have closed schools and all but essential businesses, with firefighters and police in the streets urging people to stay indoors.

Last week, Bolsonaro fired his health minister after weeks of clashes over social isolation measures. During a news conference to introduce his new minister, he reiterated that businesses need to be reopened to ensure that the economic fallout isn’t worse than the virus. Polls, however, show that a majority of Brazilians support social isolation.

On Sunday, Bolsonaro's supporters also organized caravans in different cities.

The background: Brazil has the most confirmed coronavirus cases in Latin America. As of Sunday, the country had reported 38,654 cases and 2,462 deaths, according to health officials.

US President Donald Trump defended his playing of “self-congratulatory” clips at last Sunday’s coronavirus task force briefing.

When pressed by CNN’s Jeremy Diamond as to why he was taking time during the daily coronavirus task force briefing to discuss praise he has received while more than 22 million Americans are currently unemployed and more than 40,000 people have died from coronavirus, Trump claimed he was “standing up for the men and women who have done such an incredible job,” not for himself.

When further pressed by Diamond, Trump said “those people have been excoriated by the fake news.”

Despite what he claimed, the clips Trump played and read from at the briefing were praising himself and not health care workers. Trump said it is not about himself.

The US has reported more than 759,000 coronavirus cases, including at least 40,665 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

US President Donald Trump admitted Sunday that he excluded Senator Mitt Romney from the bipartisan congressional task force focused on reopening the country because he maintains a grudge against him.

Romney voted in favor of Trump’s impeachment in February.

When asked at Sunday’s coronavirus task force briefing if the decision to shut Romney out of the task force shows that he is still holding a grudge against Romney, the only Republican senator left off the congressional task force, Trump said yes.

Romney voted to convict Trump on the first article of impeachment -- abuse of power. Romney was the only Republican Party senator to vote in favor of either articles of impeachment.

US President Donald Trump said he is planning to use the Defense Production Act again, this time to help with the production of swabs needed to conduct coronavirus tests.

Trump said the administration is close to finalizing a deal with a company that will convert its plant to produce 10 million swabs per month, but that he would use the DPA to force another company to do the same.

Trump did not name either company.

Governors on both sides of the aisle have complained that one of the reasons states cannot conduct enough coronavirus tests is that they lack the materials needed to conduct such tests, including swabs.

Trump said last week 5 million swabs were going to be sent to the states but did not provide specifics.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday the United States still wants investigators to go to China to investigate the coronavirus outbreak.

The US has previously made requests, which have been rebuffed. The White House has continually accused China of withholding accurate information about the extent of the virus within the country.

About 12,000 coronavirus testing kits distributed by the Washington Department of Health have been recalled because of possible contamination, according to a news release from the health department.

On Friday, University of Washington Medicine notified the state health department that there may have been a quality control issue after a small number of vials of viral transport media (VTM) fluid appeared to have an unusual color, according to the release.

The testing kits in question were sent to local health jurisdictions, tribal nations, and state agency partners across the state, the news release said.

Jurisdictions that received the kits are encouraged to contact the health department for a new shipment of swabs and VTM transport tubes, according to the release.

A large shipment of swabs and VTM from a different vendor are expected to arrive in the state this week, the release said.