September 7 coronavirus news

Another federal official is making it clear that despite US President Donald Trump’s predictions, there’s hardly any chance a vaccine will be available to Americans by Election Day.

“I don’t know any scientist involved in this effort who thinks we will be getting shots into arms any time before Election Day,” said the official, who is familiar with Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s effort to develop coronavirus vaccines.

Trump, however, has projected optimism for a quicker timeline.

“(It’s) going to be done in a very short period of time – could even have it during the month of October,” the President said at a press briefing Monday. “We’ll have the vaccine soon, maybe before a special date. You know what date I’m talking about.”

On August 6, Trump said he was “optimistic” a vaccine would be ready by around November 3.

“I believe we’ll have the vaccine before the end of the year, certainly, but around that date, yes. I think so,” Trump said.

And at a rally last week, he said, “It will be delivered before the end of the year, in my opinion, before the end of the year, but it really might even be delivered before the end of October.”

The federal official is not the first to cast skepticism on Trump’s forecast.

It’s “extremely unlikely, but not impossible” that a Covid-19 vaccine could be authorized for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration before the end of October, Moncef Slaoui, the chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed, told NPR last week.

Dr. Larry Corey, who’s leading a group set up by the National Institutes of Health to work on coronavirus vaccines, also said he doesn’t think there will be a vaccine available by Election Day.

“I would agree with Dr. Slaoui. The chances are very low, very remote,” said Corey, who leads the COVID-19 Prevention Network.

Read why the US likely won’t have a vaccine by Election Day:

(Photo by -/Henry Ford Health System/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Another federal official raises questions about Trump's vaccine timeline

Oklahoma State University’s home opener against the University of Tulsa has been postponed by one week, the university announced on Monday.

The game is now scheduled for September 19. It previously had been scheduled for Saturday, September 12.

Last week, it was announced that the college football game between Texas Christian University and Southern Methodist University would not be played on September 11 as previously scheduled.

A Tulsa news release said that in attempting to deal with Covid-19 protocols effectively, the football team has been limited in practice sessions since the beginning of preseason camp on August 7.

The release said that Tulsa had a nine-day pause because of multiple positive tests and was limited to seven practices in the 17 days of preseason camp.

Oklahoma State and TCU are members of the Big 12 Conference. Tulsa and SMU are part of the American Athletic Conference.

French football star Kylian Mbappe has tested positive for Covid-19 while on international duty, the French Football Federation (FFF) announced on Monday.

Mbappe took a test on Monday morning that returned positive, the FFF said, and was then isolated from the French national team. France is scheduled to play at home in Paris on Tuesday against Croatia in a UEFA Nations League match.

The 21-year-old is the seventh Paris Saint-Germain player to have tested positive for coronavirus in recent weeks. Neymar was reportedly among six others to test positive last week.

Mbappe played for France against Sweden on Saturday, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win.

PSG are set to begin their domestic season on Thursday, but the availability of several of their players is in question following the spate of positive tests.

Read more:

France's forward Kylian Mbappe reacts during the UEFA Nations League football match between Sweden and France on September 5, 2020 at the Friends Arena in Solna, near Stockholm. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP) (Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Kylian Mbappe tests positive for Covid-19 while playing with France

Ashleigh Barty will not be in Paris to defend her French Open tennis title.

The Australian said in a statement that she would not be traveling to Europe in part because of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as factoring in her lack of preparedness to play at Roland Garros.

“It has been a difficult decision to make but unfortunately I will not be competing in Europe this year,” Barty said in a statement. “Last year’s French Open was the most special tournament of my career so this is not a decision I have made lightly. 
“There are two reasons for my decision. The first is the health risks that still exist with Covid. The second is my preparation, which has not been ideal without my coach being able to train with me due to the state border closures in Australia.”

Read the full story:

Australia's Ashleigh Barty hits a return against Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova during their women's singles quarter-final match on day nine of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 28, 2020. (Photo by Manan VATSYAYANA / AFP) / IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE (Photo by MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Ashleigh Barty will not defend her French Open title, will not travel to Europe

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, CNN medical analyst and professor of medicine at George Washington University, says the lack of universal mask use could be the biggest mistake in the United States’ coronavirus response.

“When you look at countries where the mortality is a fraction of what it is in the United States, the common theme from the very beginning of the pandemic was universal masking,” he added.

Reiner said the US response to the pandemic has been an “abysmal failure.”

“The virus went all over the world,” he said. “It didn’t just come to the United States, but because of that panoply of errors and our failure to learn from our mistakes, our failure to get the country to social distance and to mask up has kept us in the realm of about 1,000 deaths per day.”

Mexico’s Health Ministry identified 3,486 new Covid-19 infections on Monday, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 637,509.

The Health Ministry also recorded 223 new virus-related fatalities, raising Mexico’s death toll to 67,781.

Mexico has the world’s fourth-highest count of coronavirus deaths, trailing the United States, Brazil and India respectively, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Excess deaths: Over the weekend, Mexico’s Health Ministry said it had recorded 122,765 excess deaths in the country during the pandemic.

Mexico’s government has said for months that its death toll from Covid-19 is higher than official figures due to low testing in the country. But that lack of testing makes it impossible to know exactly how many of the total amount of excess deaths were due to the virus.

Brazil’s health ministry reported 10,273 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours and 310 new virus-related deaths on Monday.

The country’s total number of cases now stands at 4,147,794. Brazil’s death toll increased to 126,960.

With more than 4.1 million confirmed cases, Brazil is currently the third worst-hit nation in the world, after it was recently surpassed by India in second position, behind the US.

Egypt has reported a total of 100,041 Covid-19 cases after the country’s health ministry added 178 new cases Monday. 

The health ministry also reported 11 new fatalities, bringing its total deaths to 5,541 since the start of the pandemic.

Egypt has been reporting fewer than 200 new daily cases in September, a significant drop from its peak in June when it was reporting more than a 1,000 cases per day, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The US Food and Drug Administration must avoid repeating the mistakes it made with some coronavirus treatments in the race to approve a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, Dr. Vivek Murthy, former US surgeon general, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Monday. 

“What matters in the end is what the FDA does, and they’ve got to avoid making the same mistakes they made with convalescent plasma, with hydroxychloroquine,” said Murthy. “They’ve got to really let the science and scientists guide them in their decision making here.”

Some background: The FDA gave emergency use authorization to both convalescent plasma and hydroxychloroquine in decisions that are widely viewed as having been influenced by political pressure – and that the White House trumpeted both EUA decisions as breakthroughs.

Hydroxychloroquine has been shown to not be helpful, and the FDA withdrew the EUA for that treatment against coronavirus. Doctors say calling convalescent plasma a breakthrough is a gross exaggeration, although few question the EUA decision itself.

Murthy commented on a Wall Street Journal report, as yet unconfirmed, that vaccine makers including Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson plan to sign a pledge promising to only seek approval for their coronavirus vaccine candidates once they’re proven safe and effective. Murthy said he hoped it would help increase public confidence in an eventual vaccine.

“They also probably realize what’s at stake here, which is that if the public does not have faith in a vaccine, then everyone suffers,” said Murthy.

Dan Gelber, the mayor of Miami Beach, Florida, said officials are working to make sure people are being careful this Labor Day weekend to avoid another spike in Covid-19 cases.

He said authorities have given out fines for not wearing masks and capacities are in place at restaurants.

This comes after Florida just reported it lowest number of new Covid-19 cases in nearly three months. But, in the past, numbers have spiked after other big holiday weekends like Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

“You’ve got to keep doing the things you’ve been doing, or we’re going to get another surge. I really hope and pray people listen to that, because I think it’s important if we’re going to open up our economy at all,” Gelber told CNN on Monday.

Gelber said things like wearing masks and social distancing allow for the economy to reopen safely, but people need to stay vigilant.

“I’m hoping that people really get accustomed to it — it becomes a little bit part of our culture, and it’s very important that we have a unified message, up and down government, up and down the private sector that… please wear the mask. You’ve got to do it,” he said.

When the pandemic started and schools went virtual, Margaret Norris, an elementary school teacher in Maryland, was worried about some kids not having enough to eat.

So with the help of her community, she got to work.

Norris said when the teachers got the news they wouldn’t be coming back into the classroom, they went shopping.

“We bought what we could buy and we sent home a hundred bags of food,” she told CNN on Monday. “The next week a community center that we work with had a request for more and my principal asked me how long can you do this. I put that question to my social media, and so far the answer has been six months.”

Now, with the help of donations and volunteers, she has been packing up and delivering up to 150 bags of food per week for families.

Norris said she has seen first hand how hard this has been for some parents. She said she delivered food to one mom who wasn’t able to keep her job because she had three young kids who were now staying home.

“I checked with her often and I take food to her home and a few weeks ago she texted me and she said I don’t want you to do this anymore because I’m so ashamed… I’m so ashamed that you’re spending your money to feed my children,” Norris said. “I assured her that she’s blessing all of us by letting us help her. Children have to eat. The thing about children is they’re hungry again tomorrow, so we have to get this food out there,” she added.

Her biggest piece of advice: If you want to help, it doesn’t have to be a grand gesture.

“We can do little things,” she said.

Watch here:

Nearly 20% of new Covid-19 cases in Kentucky are from children ages 18 and younger, according to a news release issued by Gov. Andy Beshear’s office.

According to the governor’s office, 291 new coronavirus cases were reported Monday, 52 of which were under the age of 18. The youngest is just one month old, according to the governor. 

No new deaths were reported.

Beshear attributed the dip in numbers to the holiday weekend.

“I’ll take any day we’re not announcing new deaths, but we know this is only due to less reporting because of the long holiday weekend,” the governor said. “We’ve lost nearly 1,000 of our fellow Kentuckians to this deadly virus.”  

He urged Kentuckians to keep gatherings to 10 people or fewer, wear a mask and to continue to practice social distancing.

In the midst of comments about the timeline of a Covid-19 vaccine from both sides of the aisle, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says the process should not be politicized.

“Let’s not politicize this thing. We have developed vaccines for decade after decade after decade. We have to give the resources to the doctors and the scientists to do their work,” Sanders told CNN on Monday.

Some background: This comes after President Trump said there could be a coronavirus vaccine “before a very special date.”

While Trump did not specially mention which date, he has previously suggested that a vaccine for coronavirus could be ready before Election Day.

But, several officials have raised questions about Trump’s timeline.

Moncef Slaoui, the chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed, told NPR last week that it’s “extremely unlikely, but not impossible” that a Covid-19 vaccine could be authorized for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration before the end of October.

Dr. Larry Corey, who’s leading a group set up by the National Institutes of Health to work on coronavirus vaccines, told CNN he also said he doesn’t think there will be a vaccine available by Election Day.

Watch here:

New graphics from the World Health Organization illustrate how much worse the coronavirus pandemic is in the Americas compared to other regions of the world.

The US has more cases and more deaths than any other country, with Brazil coming in for a close second.

“The United States of America and Brazil account for nearly three quarters of all COVID-19 cases in the Americas,” WHO said.

Yet President Trump continues to claim that the US case count and death counts are improving, and compare favorably to Europe’s.

How these regions compare: While the WHO Americas region and European regions have similar populations – around 1 billion for the Americans compared to 900 million for Europe – WHO’s statistics show the Americas account for 46% of all new coronavirus cases over the past seven days, and 59% or newly reported deaths.

Cumulatively, the Americas accounts for 55% of all coronavirus deaths globally, with roughly one-seventh of the total global population.

Europe, in contrast, accounts for 13% of all reported new cases over the past seven days, 8% of deaths and 25% of the global total cumulative deaths.

WHO says the Americas reported nearly 3.5 times as many new cases as reported by Europe in the last seven days. New cases in the Americas now account for 52% of cumulative cases worldwide.

Another federal official is making it clear that despite President Trump’s predictions, there’s hardly any chance a vaccine will be available to Americans by Election Day.

“I don’t know any scientist involved in this effort who thinks we will be getting shots into arms any time before Election Day,” said the official, who is familiar with Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s effort to develop coronavirus vaccines.

Trump, however, has projected optimism for a quicker timeline.

“[It’s] going to be done in a very short period of time – could even have it during the month of October,” the President said at a news conference Monday. “We’ll have the vaccine soon, maybe before a special date. You know what date I’m talking about.”

On August 6, Trump said he was “optimistic” a vaccine would be ready by Nov. 3.

“I believe we’ll have the vaccine before the end of the year, certainly, but around that date, yes. I think so,” Trump said.

And at a rally last week, he said, “It will be delivered before the end of the year, in my opinion, before the end of the year, but it really might even be delivered before the end of October.”

Moncef Slaoui, the chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed, told NPR last week that it’s “extremely unlikely, but not impossible” that a Covid-19 vaccine could be authorized for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration before the end of October.

Dr. Larry Corey, who’s leading a group set up by the National Institutes of Health to work on coronavirus vaccines, told CNN he also said he doesn’t think there will be a vaccine available by Election Day.

“I would agree with Dr. Slaoui. The chances are very low, very remote,” said Corey, who leads the COVID-19 Prevention Network.

There are at least 6,292,206 cases of coronavirus in the US, and at least 189,095 people have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

So far on Monday, Johns Hopkins has recorded 15,841 new cases and 154 reported deaths.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

In his Monday afternoon news conference, President Trump got into an exchange with Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason after Mason would not remove his face mask at the request of the President.

The President stopped Mason as he began to ask the first question, saying “you’re going to have to take that off, please.” He gestured to the space between the reporter and the podium, inquiring, “you’re…how many feet are you away?”

Mason replied that he would just speak louder to counter the effects of the mask. 

Trump was not satisfied with this response, telling the reporter his voice was “very muffled” with the face covering, “so if you would take it off, it would be a lot easier.”

Mason raised his voice and repeated his offer to speak louder, asking “is that better?”

The President sighed saying, “it’s better. Yeah, it’s better.”

Later in the news conference, Trump remarked that one reporter who did remove his mask sounded “so clear. As opposed to everybody else, where they refuse.”

This is not the first time that the President has requested a reporter take off his or her mask so that he could hear a question more clearly, but his disappointment with Mason’s response was notable.

President Trump said there could be a coronavirus vaccine “before a very special date.”

While Trump did not specially mention which date, he has previously suggested that a vaccine for coronavirus could be ready before Election Day.

“President Trump is getting this vaccine in record time. By the way, if this were the Obama administration, you wouldn’t have that vaccine for three years, and you probably wouldn’t have it at all,” Trump said today at a news conference.

Facts First: It’s possible that a vaccine could be approved by the Food and Drug Administration at some point in November, but there is obviously no firm timeline or guarantee that one will be. And even when one is approved, it will likely still be many months before it’s widely available across the US.

You can read CNN’s full fact check on Trump’s previous suggestion that there could be a vaccine ready before Election Day here.

Watch here:

President Trump said congressional Democrats don’t want to make a stimulus deal because such a deal would be beneficial to him in the November election.

“They think it’s good for politics if they don’t make a deal,” Trump said at an ongoing Labor Day news conference

“They don’t want to make a deal because they know that’s good for the economy. And if they make deal that’s good for the economy — and therefore, it’s good for me for the election in November, Nov. 3 — and therefore, they’re not going to make a deal,” he added.

About the stimulus stall: Lawmakers don’t appear any closer to striking a deal on additional coronavirus stimulus. Democrats are pushing for a wide-ranging, multi-trillion dollar proposal with funding for schools, rental assistance, health providers and small businesses.

Senate GOP leadership, meanwhile, has been working for weeks behind the scenes toward building internal consensus on a scaled-back, or “skinny” proposal that would include funds for education, small business, a scaled-back enhanced federal unemployment benefit and liability protections.

Watch CNN analysis here:

Florida health officials reported 1,838 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, the lowest daily tally of cases in nearly three months.

The last time the state reported a low caseload was on June 15 when it recorded 1,758 coronavirus cases, according to numbers released by the Florida Department of Health.

In spite of the holiday weekend, today’s new count reflects a downward trend of new coronavirus cases and does not deviate that much from the number of new cases reported on previous Mondays. Last Monday, on Aug. 31, Florida reported 1,885 new cases.

The total number of positive coronavirus cases across the state is at least 648,269, and today’s death toll of 22 fatalities brings the state total to 11,871 among Florida residents.

Despite the rising numbers of coronavirus cases in France, the French Tennis Federation announced Monday the 2020 French Open will be open to fans when play begins later this month. The Grand Slam event was originally scheduled for May but was postponed by the pandemic.

Tournament officials say Roland-Garros, where the tournament is played, will be divided into three zones, with a maximum of 5,000 fans in each of two zones and a maximum of 1,500 in the third.

Seats in the stands will be allocated under strict tournament protocols, with a maximum of four spectators sitting in adjacent seats indoors. Spectators over the age of 11 will be required to wear face coverings. Qualifying rounds will be played behind closed doors between Sept. 21 and 25.

According to tournament director Guy Forget, all players will be tested upon arrival in Paris. They will be approved to play if they test negative when arriving and again 72 hours later. Players will also be tested every five days as long as they remain in contention and must stay in one of two hotels arranged by tournament organizers.

What the numbers look like: French officials have confirmed more than 367,000 cases and more than 30,000 deaths from Covid-19, the seventh-highest number of fatalities caused by coronavirus worldwide according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Public gatherings in Denmark’s capital and 17 other municipalities will be capped at 50 people, down from 100, after a rise in coronavirus cases. 

The Danish health ministry called the rise in cases in Copenhagen and surrounding areas “worrying” and said the measures will initially be in place until Sept. 22.

To this date, Denmark has recorded 18,540 Covid-19 cases and 628 deaths from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.

President Trump said he’ll hold a “Labor Day News Conference” at 1 p.m. ET today.

In a tweet announcing the event, Trump said the “jobs numbers, and the Economic comeback, are looking GREAT.”

Remember: The US job market remains in a deep hole during the ongoing pandemic, and now the recovery is losing some of its momentum.

Employers added 1.4 million jobs in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Job growth at that level marks a slowdown from earlier this summer: Employers added a revised 1.7 million jobs in July and 4.8 million jobs in June.

The world needs to “celebrate the successes where we can” when it comes to Covid-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, a World Health Organization infectious disease epidemiologist, said during a Friday news briefing.

“We need to highlight and support each other in sharing the stories of what has worked,” Van Kerhove added.

She added that while many people may be “tired” of the pandemic, “we will get throught this.”

“I think many people — individuals, governments — everyone is tired. And seeing resurgence in many places can be very difficult to handle — mentally, physically — but we will get through this,” she said.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s condition is improving four days after being admitted to hospital with Covid-19-related pneumonia, the head of the intensive care unit at the San Raffaele Hospital said Monday.

According to Professor Alberto Zangrillo, “The overall clinical picture appears to be improving and is consistent with the haematochemical evidence and the resumption of a robust specific immune response, associated with a reduction in inflammation indices.”

It is highly unlikely that food is a source of Covid-19 transmission, a team of experts on food contaminations says. 

The International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods (ICMSF) looked at the evidence that coronavirus might be carried on food or its packing and found very little. 

While it is possible that people could eat something contaminated with the virus and become infected that way, it’s never been seen to have happened, they said.

“To date, there has not been any evidence that food, food packaging or food handling is a source or important transmission route for SARS-CoV-2 resulting in Covid-19,” they wrote. “There are no foods that should be considered a risk or warrant consideration as a vector for SARS-CoV-2.”  

There have been few reports of the virus being found on food products, ingredients and packaging materials and no evidence that links food or its packaging as a source of cross contact infection. However, it is still prudent to emphasize good food hygiene practices, the group said. 

Some countries have restricted food imports, tested imported products or asked companies to state their products are coronavirus-free, but none of this is necessary, the ICMSF said.  

“The focus for food businesses should be on protecting food workers, consumers and restaurant patrons from becoming infected by person-to-person SARS-CoV-2 spread,” they wrote. 

Britain has recorded 2,948 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours it said Monday.

It’s 40 less cases than the day before which marked the highest daily total since May. 

There have been more than 300,000 total coronavirus cases reported in the UK. 

England on Wednesday placed seven Greek islands under a 14-day quarantine rule, after a spike in cases on those islands. The islands of Lesvos, Tinos, Serifos. Mykonos, Crete, Santorini and Zakynthos have been removed from the nation’s exemption list, the ministry of Transport has said. Everyone returning to England will need to quarantine for two weeks as of Wednesday.

“Data from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England has indicated a significant risk to UK public health from those islands, leading to Ministers removing them from the current list of travel corridors,” a press release read.

The German regulatory authority, the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, has approved a phase 2/3 clinical trial in Germany of a Covid-19 vaccine candidate being developed by US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech.

The BNT162b2 mRNA-based vaccine candidate is already in similar large-scale trials in the United States. The trial involves giving the participants two doses of a 30 microgram vaccine – one on the first day and one 28 days later – with participants being followed up for up to two years after they receive the second dose. 

In August, the companies presented “promising” results in early data on safety and immune responses in their ongoing Phase 1/2 study in the United States. Among both younger and older adults in the trial, the companies said the vaccine “was well tolerated with mild to moderate fever in fewer than 20% of the participants.” The companies also noted in their news release that seven days after participants were given a second dose of the vaccine at 30 micrograms, the vaccine was able to elicit neutralizing antibodies in younger adults ages 18 to 55, and in older adults ages 65 to 85.

Remember: The data has not yet published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

The companies plan to seek regulatory authorization or approval for the drug as early as October if it is successful in clinical trial testing. They plan to supply up to 100 million doses worldwide by the end of 2020 and 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.

Many infectious disease experts say, however, that it’s highly unlikely Pfizer will have enough data to allow for an emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration in October.

President Trump is again claiming, without evidence, that he is “starting to get VERY high marks” in the “handling of the Coronavirus.”

It is unclear what source Trump is using to make the erroneous claim but follows a pattern of Trump’s desperation to stamp an end date on the deadly pandemic before November 3.

Some context: According to a new CBS News/YouGov poll, only 21% of voters nationwide said they would immediately seek out a vaccine if one was made available in 2020.

That number is down from 32% in July. 65% said they believed a vaccine announced this year would, by definition, be the product of a “rushed” process. Only 35% would regard it positively, as a “scientific achievement.”

Trump announced on Twitter this morning that he’ll be holding a news conference later today.  

New York has had an infection rate below 1% for the last 31 days, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Labor Day.

There were two additional coronavirus deaths reported, the governor said in a press release.

“Thanks to the hard work of New Yorkers, our state has now gone a full month with our COVID infection rate remaining below one percent,” Cuomo said in a press release Monday. 

He added: “Our numbers have continued to remain stable even as we reach new milestones in our phased, data-driven reopening. As we close out this Labor Day Weekend, I urge everyone to remain smart so we can continue to celebrate our progress in the weeks and months ahead.

Additionally the State Liquor Authority and State Police Task force visited over 1,000 establishments in New York City and on Long Island and observed 7 in noncompliance.

One thing to note: These numbers were released by the state’s public health agency, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project

Two English footballers — Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden and Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood — have been sent home for breaching coronavirus protocols.

England national team manager Gareth Southgate confirmed the players broke quarantine rules, in a news conference ahead of England’s UEFA Nations League match away at Denmark on Tuesday.

Southgate said: “Unfortunately this morning [it] was brought to my attention that two boys had broken the Covid guidelines in terms of our secure bubble And so we had to decide, very quickly, that they couldn’t have any interaction with the team, rest of the team, wouldn’t be able to travel to training. And given the procedures that we have to follow now they’ll have to travel back to England separately.”

England were in Reykjavik following a 1-0 victory over Iceland in the Nations League. Since the win, Icelandic media outlet DV reported the two England players were visited by two Icelandic girls in their hotel. Southgate says that no other players have been affected. 

“Nothing has happened in the areas that we occupy in the hotel, we’re still getting to the depths of all the information because as I said this was only brought to my attention a couple of hours before training.

“Nobody from outside our party has been into the areas of the hotel that we’re occupying.”

Mexico has the world’s fourth highest coronavirus death toll, but remains No. 8 on the list of most-infected countries globally.

Mexico announced 232 new deaths on Sunday, taking the total death toll to 67,558, the world’s fourth highest count of coronavirus deaths, following the US, Brazil and India, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Mexico also recorded at least 4,614 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, taking the country’s total case count to at least 634,023. 

Mexico therefore has the world’s eighth highest count of total Covid-19 cases, and the fourth-highest number of cases in Latin America proper, following Brazil, Peru and Colombia, according to Johns Hopkins University.

It’s unlikely the United States will have a Covid-19 vaccine available for widespread use this year, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, said on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday.

“The likelihood that we’re going to have a vaccine for widespread use in 2020 is extremely low. I think we need to think of that as largely a 2021 event, and if we do have a vaccine available in 2020, it’s likely to be used in a much more targeted fashion – almost in a therapeutic sense, to protect very high-risk populations,” Gottlieb told CBS anchor John Dickerson.

“In terms of thinking about the vaccine, at least as far as this year is concerned – in 2020, the fall and the winter – I think that if there is a vaccine made available, it’s likely to be a very staged introduction of the vaccine under an emergency use authorization, where there’s going to be a lot of data collection around the use of that vaccine,” Gottlieb said.

“And it’s just going to be very select groups of people who are either at very high risk of contracting the coronavirus because of what they do. For example, health care workers, or very high risk of a bad outcome – think of people for example in a nursing home,” Gottlieb said. “So you can almost think of the vaccine being used in a therapeutic sense to try to protect very high-risk populations, and not in a way we traditionally think about a vaccine in terms of trying to provide broad-based immunity in a population and really quell an epidemic.”

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said the coronavirus situation in his city has “stabilized” after local officials implemented a number of measures, including curfews and a mandate to wear masks in public.

Suarez said the mask mandate will likely be needed through flu season because flu and coronavirus threats at the same time “could potentially create another wave.”

Watch more:

The upcoming fall and winter seasons will be “more difficult” for controlling the coronavirus in the United States, which already has “a lot of infection,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, said on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday.

“If you look at where we are heading into Labor Day, relative to where we were heading into Memorial Day, we have an equivalent amount – if not more infection – heading into Labor Day right now,” Gottlieb added.

“Looking at Memorial Day, we had about 40,000 people hospitalized, we were diagnosing about 21,000 new cases a day, and we had about 1100 deaths,” Gottlieb added. “As of yesterday, we had about 35,000 people hospitalized. We’re diagnosing about 40,000 infections a day. On a seven-day moving average, we have about 850 tragic deaths a day. So that’s a lot of infection to be taking into a season when we know a respiratory pathogen is going to want to spread more aggressively.”

Months into the pandemic, people across the United States are “exhausted,” Gottlieb said. He warned that there might be a reduction in mask-wearing and social distancing heading into the fall because of that fatigue.

“People are exhausted. People have been social distancing and wearing masks and staying home for a long period of time right now. Small businesses are hurting,” Gottlieb said. “So I think that people’s willingness to comply with the simple things that we know can reduce spread is going to start to fray as we head into the fall and the winter – and that’s another challenge, trying to keep up our vigilance at a time when we know this can spread more aggressively.”

The number of air travelers climbed going into the Labor holiday weekend – enough to set a new pandemic-era high.  

The Transportation Security Administration said it screened 968,673 people on Friday of Labor Day weekend. For comparison, the agency saw nearly 2.2 million people on the same weekday a year ago.

On Saturday, the amount of travelers were far less: TSA only screened 664,640 people compared to 1.7 million the year before. 

Labor Day celebrations were in full swing this weekend — and many included the large crowds of people health experts feared would form.

Many gathered in large groups on Saturday. In San Francisco, city officials announced on Sunday morning they would be closing the parking lot at Ocean Beach after a gathering celebrating Burning Man culture attracted a big crowd. More than 1,000 people flocked to the event at the beach, according to San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who called the gathering “reckless and selfish.”

Throngs of people were expected at Tybee Island beaches in Georgia over the weekend, CNN affiliate WTOC reported. And images from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, showed umbrellas lined up side-by-side down the beach.

And in Atlanta, many weekend Labor Day parties were on the schedule, including “The Biggest Labor Day Weekend Party in the City” hosted by rapper Gucci Mane and a “Sunday Funday” rooftop party advertised with an image of people standing close together, some without masks.

In the days leading up to the holiday weekend, experts including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, urged people should continue to keep distance, wear masks and avoid groups as they enjoy the weekend.

More than 1,000 people gathered at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach on Saturday to celebrate Burning Man culture, according to the mayor, who shut down the beach’s parking lot in response.

“This was absolutely reckless and selfish,” Mayor London Breed tweeted on Sunday. “You are not celebrating. You are putting people’s lives at risk. You are putting our progress at risk. No one is immune from spreading the virus.”

The gathering on the beach was one of many large congregations over Labor Day weekend that went against recommendations.

Though it was specifically celebrating Burning Man, the event’s organizers – who held a livestream of the annual tradition of burning a wooden effigy Saturday – said they were neither aware of it nor involved in its planning.

Burning Man is a nine-day festival that usually brings in crowds of 80,000 for eclectic costumes, art installations and musical performances. It was scheduled to begin August 30 this year, but organizers canceled the event in April due to the coronavirus.

But people gathered on Saturday anyway in San Francisco, and video from Craig Fowler showed a large group dancing in front of a stage with a DJ and another showed fire dancers on the beach.

Read the full story here:

More than 1,000 people gathered at San Francisco's Ocean Beach Saturday to celebrate Burning Man culture, according to the mayor.

Related article A 1,000-person gathering to celebrate Burning Man culture put people's lives at risk, San Francisco mayor says

Manchester City footballers Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte have tested positive for Covid-19, the club announced on Monday.

“Manchester City FC can confirm that Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte have tested positive for Covid-19,” the club announced in a statement on their website.

“Both players are currently observing a period of self-isolation in accordance with Premier League and UK Government protocol on quarantine,” the club said.

Neither is said to be displaying symptoms of the virus.

Last season, Manchester City finished second in the English Premier League.

The new season starts in five days’ time, on Saturday 12 September, but City’s involvement in the UEFA Champions League means they aren’t due to begin their 2020-21 campaign until September 21, with an away match at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Globally, more than 27 million cases of coronavirus have been recorded, and more than 889,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. Here’s the latest on the pandemic.

India reaches a grim milestone: India has surpassed Brazil as the country with the second-highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, after reporting a daily high of 90,802 new infections on Monday.

India’s total number of cases stands at 4,204,613, according to the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. By comparison, Brazil has confirmed 4,137,521 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. 

India is the world’s second most populous nation, home to more than 1.3 billion people – more than six times the population of Brazil.

The United States remains the country with the highest number of recorded cases – more than 6.27 million cases – according to figures from JHU. 

Harris criticizes Trump administration’s coronavirus response: Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris attacked the Trump administration for “minimizing the seriousness” of the coronavirus outbreak and failing to do enough for millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet.

“There is no question that Donald Trump has been an abject failure and incompetent when it comes to addressing the severe job loss that has happened as a result of the pandemic, because he has failed to address the pandemic itself,” Harris told CNN’s Dana Bash in an exclusive “State of the Union” interview on Sunday.

“We need to talk about how the economy is doing based on how working people are doing,” she said. “And right now, working people are suffering.”

South Korea wants one test for coronavirus and flu: South Korea is developing a testing kit that can detect seasonal flu and Covid-19 at the same time, according to the country’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

As symptoms of Covid-19 and seasonal flu are similar it’s important to detect the difference for the coming fall flu season, KCDC director Jung Eun-kyeong said Monday.

The country’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is currently going through the permit process to approve the test.

Australia signs $1.2 billion agreement for coronavirus vaccine: Australians will have access to a free Covid-19 vaccine at some point in 2021 if trials prove successful, after the government signed a supply and production deal worth $1.7 billion Australian dollars ($1.2 billion) for tens of millions of doses.

Under the agreement, the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca and the University of Queensland/CSL will provide at least 84.8 million doses of their potential vaccines, according to an Australian government statement today.

UK looking at options to reduce 14 day quarantine period: The UK Government is looking at options for reducing the 14-day quarantine period for travelers to around one week, the country’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.

Visitors arriving in the UK from certain countries are required to self-isolate for 14 days – though the exact restrictions differ in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The UK Government is looking at options to reduce the 14-day quarantine period for travelers entering the country to around one week, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Monday.

“It’s one of the things we’d like to bring in as soon as it’s practical to do it,” he told LBC Radio on Monday.

Visitors arriving in the UK from certain countries are required to self-isolate for 14 days – though the exact restrictions differ in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

“I think everybody understands how important the quarantine policy is. When we brought it in, there was a lot of noise, a lot of people saying this wasn’t necessary,” Hancock said.

“But sadly if you look at the number of cases in India, Brazil, and now closer to home – in Spain and in France – people can see why we’ve had to bring that policy in.”

Asked about the importance of reducing quarantine to help tourism, he said his focus was on working out a way to do so “safely, and that works, and that protects people in this country.”

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock says he’s concerned by a recent rise is Covid-19 cases in the country, adding that it has been most noticeable among “more affluent, younger people.”

Hancock said the rise was “concerning because we’ve seen a rise in cases in France, in Spain, in some other countries across Europe. And nobody wants to see a second wave here,” he told LBC radio.

“It just reinforces the point that people must follow the social distancing rules – they’re so important.”

The United Kingdom recorded 2,988 new Covid-19 cases in a 24-hour period – the highest daily number since May – according to government figures published on Sunday.

“The rise in the number of cases we’ve seen over the last few days is largely amongst younger people … under 25’s – especially between 17 and 21 (years old),” Hancock said.

He said even though younger people are at lower risk of dying from Covid-19, there is a risk that they could infect other people.

Asked whether the latest increase is following earlier trends of being worse in economically deprived and Black and ethnic minority communities, Hancock said it was more “broadly spread.”

“Actually, it’s amongst more affluent, younger people especially that we’ve seen the rise,” he said.

The UK has recorded 349,500 cases of coronavirus, with at least 41,640 deaths, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

Australians will have access to a free Covid-19 vaccine at some point in 2021, if trials prove successful, after the government signed a supply and production deal worth $1.7 billion Australian dollars ($1.2 billion) for tens of millions of doses.

Under the agreement, the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca and the University of Queensland/CSL will provide at least 84.8 million doses of their potential vaccines, according to an Australian government statement today.

Up to 3.8 million doses of the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will arrive as early as January 2021, the statement added.

The government’s deal with the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca was first reported on August 19.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the vaccines would be free for Australian citizens.

“There are no guarantees that these vaccines will prove successful, however the agreement puts Australia at the top of the queue, if our medical experts give the vaccines the green light,” he said in the statement.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said that while vaccinations helped save lives, a coronavirus vaccine would not be mandatory.

“While the Government supports immunisation, it is not mandatory and individuals maintain the option to choose not to vaccinate,” he said in the statement.

The vaccines: According to the statement, the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has entered Phase 3 trials, the final stage of testing. “To date it has generated strong immune responses, with no significant safety concerns,” the release said.

Developed in Australia, the University of Queensland vaccine is already effective in animal models, the statement said, citing the university.  

South Korea is developing a testing kit that can detect seasonal flu and Covid-19 at the same time, according to the country’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC)

As symptoms of Covid-19 and seasonal flu are similar it’s important to detect the difference for the coming fall flu season, KCDC director Jung Eun-kyeong said at a news conference on Monday.

South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is currently going through the permit process to approve the test. The kit will allow detection of either virus from a single sample, Jung said.

Epidemic eases: South Korea reported 108 new locally transmitted cases and 11 imported cases Monday, bringing the total to 21,296.

The total death toll is now 336, after two new fatalities on Sunday. Most of the new cases were reported in the Seoul metropolitan area.

South Korea is currently battling a second wave of infections, which rose as high as 441 daily cases in late August.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Monday that coronavirus restrictions were helping to curb the spread of the virus.

“The rapid and strong response, like social distancing measures from the government is starting to show its effect,” Moon said. He also praised the public for changing the trend.

However, despite the drop in new cases, the Ministry of Health said it was considering continuing social distancing measures during the upcoming Chuseok holiday in late September. The three-day holiday, known as “Korea’s Thanksgiving,” traditionally sees people travel across the country to gather with their families.

New York state, once the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US, has maintained a positive infection rate of below 1% for 30 straight days.

In another hopeful development, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday that the state’s hospitalizations from the virus have dropped to a new low since March 16.

But that’s no reason to think the fight against the virus is over, officials say.

After a summer resurgence, the virus has now infected more than 6.2 million people in the US and resulted in 188,941 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Some states, like New York, are seeing promising trends. As of early Monday, 18 states were reporting fewer new cases over the past seven days compared with the week prior. Another 16 were holding steady. Still, officials and experts have warned that the public must continue practicing preventative measures or risk a resurgence in the fall and winter.

“New Yorkers can help us keep that streak going by wearing masks, socially distancing and washing their hands,” Cuomo said. “Our actions today determine the rate of infection tomorrow, so as the Labor Day weekend continues, I urge everyone to be smart so we don’t see a spike in the weeks ahead.”

The best way to avoid the outbreaks that followed Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekends is to wear masks, avoid crowds and keep a safe distance from others, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said leading up to Labor Day weekend.

Read the full story:

Thousands flocked to Ocean City to enjoy Labor Day. Visitors stroll the boardwalk Saturday, Sept. 5, 2020. Masks were required on the boardwalk during the holiday weekend.

Related article New York governor urges the public to be cautious over Labor Day to keep coronavirus infections from spiking

For the first time in five months, subway trains are slowly beginning to come back into service in India.

All public transport, including suburban trains, was suspended when the country announced a nationwide lockdown on March 24, amid a growing coronavirus epidemic.

The trains resumed operations as infections surged to a fresh daily high of 90,802 new cases Monday that saw India surpass Brazil as the country with the second-highest number of total cases, after the United States.

India now has 4,204,613 confirmed cases of Covid-19, including 71,642 deaths.

Despite the rising number of infections, the government announced on August 29 that subway trains would resume in cities from September 7 in a “graded manner”. 

Delhi, Noida, Chennai, Kochi, Bangalore, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Gujarat, Kolkata and Lucknow metros will begin resuming services gradually from Monday, with a goal of full capacity by September 12. 

Maharashtra, including the financial capital of Mumbai, will continue to suspend metro services until October, according to a statement from the Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs. 

Only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to travel in the metros, while wearing of face masks will be mandatory and cashless transactions encouraged to help contain the spread of coronavirus, according to guidelines issued by the ministry.

The United States recorded 31,395 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the nationwide total to at least 6,276,365 infections, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The death toll rose to at least 188,941 after 403 new virus-related fatalities were also recorded Sunday.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.  

CNN’s is tracking US cases here:

India has surpassed Brazil as the country with the second-highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases after reporting a fresh daily high of 90,802 new infections on Monday.

India’s total number of cases now stands at 4,204,613, according to the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. In comparison, Brazil has confirmed 4,137,521 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. 

India is the world’s second most populous nation, home to more than 1.3 billion people – more than six times the population of Brazil.

The United States remains the country with the highest number of recorded cases. As of Sunday night, the US had reported 6,275,643 cases, according to JHU.

Low death rate: As of Monday, India had recorded 71,642 virus-related deaths, far below the US at nearly 189,000 deaths and Brazil’s more than 126,000 fatalities.

India’s death rate of five virus-related fatalities per 100,000 people is lower than more than 80 countries and territories, according to JHU data.

For comparison, the US death rate is 58 per 100,000 people, while Brazil’s is 60 per 100,000 people, according to JHU.

Reopening: The rapid rise in infections in India comes after the government announced a new phase of reopening last week. Subway trains will be allowed to run for the first time in months from September 7 while gatherings of up to 100 people will be permitted at sports, entertainment, cultural and religious events outside of hotspot areas from September 21.

Schools and colleges will remain closed until the end of September.

CNN is tracking worldwide coronavirus cases here:

“My heartbeats are heavy. It becomes difficult to catch my breath. My hands shake and get sweaty,” said Aritri Paul of the terrifying panic attacks that strike more frequently since India went into coronavirus lockdown in March.

India’s government started easing the most severe restrictions on daily life in June, but the effects of the lockdown on residents’ mental health are still emerging, as the country battles one of the most severe Covid-19 outbreaks in the world.

India now has over 4.1 million cases of the virus, giving it the third-highest tally of recorded cases globally, behind the Unites States and Brazil.

“The worst are the headaches and the pain in my eyes,” said Paul, who lives in Kolkata, West Bengal. “I have had more panic attacks this year than in my entire life combined.”

Research conducted by the Suicide Prevention in India Foundation (SPIF) in May found that nearly 65% of 159 mental health professionals surveyed reported an increase in self-harm among their patients. More than 85% of therapists surveyed said they were experiencing caregiver fatigue, and over 75% said fatigue had impacted their work.

Another survey in April, by the Indian Psychiatric Society, showed that, of 1,685 participants, 40% were suffering from common mental health disorders, such as anxiety and depression, due to the pandemic.

Read the full story:

Related article India didn't prioritize mental health before Covid-19. Now it's paying the price

Northeastern University has dismissed 11 students after they were found violating the school’s public health protocols, the school said in a statement.

The students were part of the N.U.in Program, a study abroad experience for first-year students, the university said. The program was modified because of the coronavirus pandemic, and over 800 students are staying in two-person rooms at a Westin Hotel less than one mile from the school’s main campus in Boston, Massachusetts.

The 11 students were found together in a room at the Westin on Wednesday night, the school said. The students and their parents were told Friday they must vacate the hotel within 24 hours and that they are required to undergo Covid-19 testing at Northeastern.

“Northeastern and its community of students, faculty, and staff take violations of health and safety protocols very seriously,” said Madeleine Estabrook, senior vice chancellor for student affairs at Northeastern. “Cooperation and compliance with public health guidelines is absolutely essential … Testing negative for COVID-19 is not enough.”

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BOSTON, USA - JUL. 12, 2019: Northeastern University main entrance and Ell Hall in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Related article Northeastern University dismisses 11 students for violating the school's public health protocols

The state of New York has maintained a positive Covid-19 infection rate below 1% for 30 straight days, a release from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office said. 

The state had a positive infection rate of 0.85% reported Saturday, the release said.

Hospitalizations across the state have dropped to 410, which is the lowest number since March 16, according to the release. 

“We know based on experience that an incremental, data-driven reopening is the best way to protect the health and safety of all New Yorkers. As this virus continues to be a national crisis, it’s clear that caution is a virtue, not a vice,” Cuomo said.

The governor added: “Our infection rate has been below 1% for 30 days, and New Yorkers can help us keep that streak going by wearing masks, socially distancing, and washing their hands. Our actions today determine the rate of infection tomorrow, so as the Labor Day weekend continues, I urge everyone to be smart so we don’t see a spike in the weeks ahead.”

With a US death toll of more than 188,000, Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris attacked the Trump administration for “minimizing the seriousness” of the coronavirus outbreak and failing to do enough for millions of American struggling to make ends meet.

“There is no question that Donald Trump has been an abject failure and incompetent when it comes to addressing the severe job loss that has happened as a result of the pandemic, because he has failed to address the pandemic itself,” Harris told CNN’s Dana Bash in an exclusive “State of the Union” interview on Sunday. “We need to talk about how the economy is doing based on how working people are doing. And right now, working people are suffering.”

The unemployment rate in the United States stands at 8.4%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. That’s down from a high of 14.7% in April, but still far from the pre-pandemic unemployment rate of 3.5% in February.

Harris continued to say she would not trust Trump’s word alone on the safety and efficacy of a coronavirus vaccine, but said she “would trust the word of public health experts and scientists,” including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Trump said Friday he believed a coronavirus vaccine could “probably” come sometime in the month of October, though experts agree it is more likely to come later.

Asked whether she believes states should mandate a vaccine for public school students along with other vaccinations, Harris said she would listen to public health experts.

Harris also declined to back a mask mandate on a federal level, instead calling for a “national standard.” “This is not about punishment. It’s not about big brother,” Harris said.

“We have a President of the United States who made this a partisan issue,” she continued. “The virus could care less who you voted for in the last election or who you plan to vote for in the next election. We need leadership that appreciates that, on certain issues, they should not be partisan. Wearing a mask certainly shouldn’t be one of them.”

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Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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The United Kingdom has recorded 2,988 new Covid-19 cases in a 24-hour period – the highest daily number since May, according to government figures published on Sunday.

The UK’s total number of recorded cases now stands at 347,152. 

In addition, two Covid-19 patients have died, bringing the UK government’s official death toll to 41,551.

In response to the new figures, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “Cases rising across the UK - 2988 being reported today compared to 1813 yesterday. This reminds us again of the need to be very vigilant and comply with all the facts.”

Comparisons should be made with caution because the number of tests being processed has increased since May.