May 20 coronavirus news

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A health worker helps a woman put on protective gear at the Intensive Care Unit for COVID-19 of the Gilberto Novaes Hospital in Manaus, Brazil, on May 20.

Brazil set a record high for new coronavirus cases within 24 hours, the country’s Health Ministry announced on Wednesday.

Brazil reported 19,951 new cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 291,579 confirmed cases.

This new surge tops the previous record set on Tuesday.

Deaths caused by coronavirus increased by 888, bringing to the country’s total to 18,859, the ministry said. 

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization, speaks during a news conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on March 9.

Tedros Adhanom-Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, on Wednesday said that more cases had been reported to the agency in the last 24 hours than any time since the novel coronavirus outbreak began. 

Those four countries, WHO infectious disease epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove confirmed to CNN in an email, are: the United States, Russia, Brazil and India.

It is important to note: There can be delays in reporting at many points in the process, so this single-day record does not mean that these 106,000 people were infected, tested or counted in the last 24 hours.

CNN exclusively relies on Johns Hopkins University for its case and death counts, but the world’s preeminent health agency making this announcement today is newsworthy.

The European Union’s health and aviation bodies have issued a new set of guidelines for air travel, recommending the use of face masks and the practice “scrupulous and frequent” hand hygiene on flights in order to ensure safety of travelers and aviation personnel amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) also recommend that social distancing be observed whenever possible.

Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez wears a face mask during a parliamentary plenary session on May 20.

In a tight vote, the Spanish Parliament on Wednesday narrowly approved the fifth extension of the country’s state of emergency for another two weeks.

The state of emergency will last until June 7. 

Now in its tenth week, the extended state of emergency, which has been in place since March 14, will allow the Spanish government to continue regulating restrictions on movement with the aim of controlling the coronavirus for a total of 12 weeks.

Some context: The lengthy state of emergency has widened political rifts in Spain, with the right and far right accusing the government of ineptitude in handling the Covid-19 pandemic, blaming it for tens of thousands of deaths, and holding it responsible for the country’s economic nosedive. 

Speaking ahead of the vote in Spain’s lower chamber, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that in the fight against Covid-19, “the state of emergency and de-escalation have worked, the state of emergency will not last one day longer than it needs to.”

Sánchez was firm in his position that “there is no alternative to the state of emergency” and lifting it now “would be an extraordinary irresponsibility.”

Spain imposed some of Europe’s strictest confinement and de-escalation measures, gradually lifting restrictions asymmetrically across the country starting in early May, depending on infection rates and the capacity of health institutions in its territories.

The prime minister said the country is “in the last few meters [yards] of the state of emergency.” 

Spain is among countries with the world’s highest coronavirus infection and death numbers; but has managed to significantly bring those down in recent weeks.

France reported an additional 110 people died from Covid-19, the country’s Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday.

The total number of deaths in France is at least 28,132.

The country also reported an additional 418 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 143,845.

An employee of the archeological site of the Acropolis wearing a mask stands in front of the Parthenon temple in Athens on May 18.

Greece says it is ready to reopen the country to some foreign visitors on June 15.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis announced in televised speeches a roadmap to kickstart the country’s tourism sector, which accounts for roughly 20% of Greece’s GDP.

On June 15, some international flights will resume, but only to and from Athens International Airport.

In this first stage, only visitors from specific countries with low infection rates will be allowed in. The Greek tourism minister said the list of countries will be published by the end of this month but cited Germany, Israel, Cyprus and countries in the Balkan and Nordic regions as examples.

On July 1, after the first phase has been evaluated, all airports will be open to international travelers from all countries with some potential exceptions for countries with high infection rates.

Visitors will not be required to take a compulsory coronavirus test before entering the country and they will not have to remain in quarantine. Greece, however, retains its ability to subject travelers to sample coronavirus testing once they have arrived.

Some more details: The Greek prime minister announced a 24 billion euro ($26 billion) package to boost the country’s economy and tourism industry. The plan includes, among other measures, lowering the VAT in transport fares from 24% to 13%.

Theoharis said the government will strengthen the health infrastructure and capacity in popular tourism destinations to cover every possible need. 

Romes's Leonardo da Vinci Rome - Fiumicino International Airport seen on May 7.

Italy will start reopening all its airports starting June 3, Transport Minister Paola de Micheli announced on Wednesday during a parliamentary session.

“It will be possible to proceed to the reopening of all airports starting from June 3, when transfers are again permitted,” the minister said.

De Micheli added that current interregional and international limitations will also end for public transport within the country.  

Flights were suspended in all major Italian airports on March 14, except for essential flights. Rome’s Ciampino and Florence’s airports were allowed to reopen on May 4, but the Milan hub remained closed due to the lack of air traffic, the minister said. 

Canada’s top doctor is now recommending that everyone wear a non-medical mask when leaving home, especially when social distancing may not be possible. 

Canada’s recommendation on masks has changed over the past few weeks with early directives in March saying that masks did not play a significant role in controlling the transmission of Covid-19. Tam said she had no regrets about those early recommendations, saying the science on the virus is evolving daily. 

“So it’s when we got more evidence about asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic individuals, although we don’t fully understand their role in transmission, it is an added layer of protection,” Tam said. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday that he will wear a mask when leaving his home and when he cannot social distance in order to protect himself and others. 

Tam went a step further and suggested mask-wearing may soon become a social and cultural norm in Canada, with more and more people open to wearing masks when in public. 

The Canadian government, however, stopped short of mandating that everyone wear masks, saying that individual jurisdictions in Canada and some businesses can implement that on a case-by-case basis. 

“For Canadians, thinking of it as I’m protecting you, you’re protecting me, is a very key concept. We have to again the trust of the Canadian public and get their buy in to do all of this. Mandating is one measure that some jurisdictions might take if they have to,” Tam said. 

Two members of the Madrid Emergency Medical Service greet each other by touching elbows during a briefing in Madrid on May 15.

Spain and Italy, the two European nations hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, continue to report low daily Covid-19 deaths and new cases.

In Spain, the number of daily deaths due to Covid-19 rose by 95 on Tuesday, bringing the total number of deaths to more than 27,800, figures reported by the country’s health ministry on Wednesday show.

The data, however, shows a slight uptick in new infections, which will be explained “in the next few days,” said Fernando Simón, Spain’s director of the Center for Health Emergencies.

More on this: Spain’s Health Ministry recently instituted a new reporting system for Covid-19 cases, which is designed to allow much faster detection, isolation of patients, and treatment of the virus, Simón has said.

Meanwhile, Italy continues to steadily drive its coronavirus numbers down.

The number of active cases in Italy dropped to 62,752 Wednesday, according to the Italian Civil Protection Agency. Today’s figure is a decrease of more than 2,300 cases since the day before.

The number of deaths rose by at least 161 in the past day to a total of 32,330, the agency reported.

The total number of cases in the country since the beginning of the outbreak is now 227,364, an increase of 665 from the day before.

Turkey will begin a phased opening of medical tourism with 31 countries in June, the country’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Wednesday.

Koca said he has been in touch with his Libyan counterpart who welcomed the announcement.

Turkey is a medical tourism destination and receives patients from across the region for different medical procedures and treatment.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it is constantly tracking symptoms and dynamics of Covid-19 to better understand this new disease.

Speaking during a Wednesday briefing, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on Covid-19, said a global network of clinicians hold weekly discussions on what they are seeing in their patients.

WHO pools the information and comes up with clinical guidelines “to better understand how to care for people, and to ensure that the clinical pathway that someone goes on — or is part of — in terms of how we care for them is appropriate,” she said. 

Van Kerkhove said WHO plans to have an update on its clinical guidance by the end of the week.

Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said it’s important to carefully track three things in order to better understand the virus — and to help make a vaccine that is the most effective. 

“We need to track the infection — the virus itself as it spreads around the world; we need to track its transmission dynamics to ensure that we understand how it’s transmitting, where it’s transmitted,” Ryan said.

“We need to track the genetic sequences of the virus to ensure that the virus is not evolving,” he added.

And lastly, Ryan said, “we also have to track the clinical syndrome, to be able to check whether any changes in the virus are resulting in any differences in the clinical attack rates or clinical fatality or clinical syndromes that are presenting.”

England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) has asked the Premier League to determine the risks black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) players face from Covid-19 in returning to training.

The request was made during the first phase of the league’s return to limited training sessions this week, before a possible restart to the season in June.

A PFA spokesperson has told CNN that a number of their members have expressed strong concerns to the players’ union over a return, and that’s why they’ve asked the Premier League to gather more information on the coronavirus, and only allow a return to full training once they are confident the players won’t be at risk.

In many countries, the impacts of Covid-19 have been observed to have a disproportionately severe impact on communities of color.

But a recent report by the UK’s Office for National Statistics noted that “the difference between ethnic groups in Covid-19 mortality is partly a result of socio-economic disadvantage and other circumstances,” and that “a remaining part of the difference has not yet been explained.”

The report found that black people in the UK are more than four times as likely to die from coronavirus as white people, and that a greater risk of death existed even after removing factors such as deprivation or existing health conditions.

The UK government is setting up a task force to help restart the arts, sports and digital sectors in the country, Britain’s Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, said.

“Normal life, as we have known it, is still clearly a long way off and the path to get there is a narrow one,” Dowden said.

“But these things will return, when it’s safe for them to do so,” he added.

The culture secretary went on to say that the “biggest challenge” for these sectors is finding “crowd free ways to navigate coronavirus.”

Dowden said the government would seek the advice of former soccer player Alex Scott, former BBC and ITV chairman Michael Grade, English National Ballet artistic director Tamara Rojo and tech entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox.

A man wearing a face mask looks at his mobile phone while a couple walks by in Havana, Cuba, on May 18.

Cuba has gone a week without any coronavirus-related deaths, health officials said Wednesday, as the numbers of cases in the country continue to drop.

Cuba has so far recorded nearly 1,900 coronavirus cases with 79 deaths, according to a John Hopkins University tally.

Health officials announced 13 additional Covid-19 cases Wednesday without any new fatalities.

People diagnosed with the coronavirus in Cuba are required to receive treatment at hospitals, and wearing masks in public is mandatory.

Since the outbreak began in the island, it has been shut down to everyone but returning citizens and residents.

Despite the apparent success of Cuba’s efforts, government officials have said they have no plans to lift the quarantine and country will likely remain on lockdown through June.

Dozens of schools in Incheon city, west of Seoul, have been closed again on the first day back to school since the outbreak after two Covid-19 cases were found among the student body.

Schools directly related to the two confirmed students had already cancelled face-to-face classes on Wednesday, but 66 schools in Incheon city opened and closed within 2 hours as a precautionary measure until the contact tracing is completed.

The two students had been to karaoke rooms where other previously infected students had also been.

These cases are believed to be linked to South Korea’s recent Itaewon nightclub cluster infection. So far, a total of 196 cases have been reported related to the Itaewon nightclub cluster.

The reopening dates for these schools have not been announced yet.

People mourn during a mass burial of coronavirus victims at the Parque Taruma cemetery in Manaus, Brazil, on May 19.

Brazil’s Lower House of Congress approved a proposed law Tuesday, which would make masks mandatory in public spaces amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Any businesses authorized to operate during the pandemic must provide masks to employees who work with the public, and the government must also provide masks to low-income citizens, the proposed law stated.

The proposal needs to be approved by the Senate and by President Jair Bolsonaro in order to be signed into law.

Brazil on Tuesday recorded its highest daily number of coronavirus deaths and cases, with 1,179 deaths and 17,408 new infections. This comes a day after it became the country with the third-highest number of cases in the world.

US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House Tuesday he may consider imposing a travel ban to Brazil. 

Meanwhile, President Bolsonaro continues to dismiss the health crisis, saying the economic impacts will be far worse to what he’s compared to a “little flu.” 

Bolsonaro in a tweet today said there will be new guidelines to expand the use of chloroquine for treating coronavirus, although it is an unproven treatment for the virus.

Brazil’s medical authority approved the use of hydroxychloroquine in April in serious cases of coronavirus if doctor and patient agree.

The Brazilian president has pushed for approval to use the drug in less serious cases.

An altar boy stands in the central aisle of the Basilica of Neuchatel which pews display the portraits of 400 parishioners unable to attend the mass due to coronavirus on May 3.

Switzerland will allow people to attend places of worship again starting on May 28, the Swiss Federal Council announced.

This includes services and celebrations of all religions.

Some background: The Federal Council has passed legislation for a new “SwissCovid-App.” With the changed law, which still needs to be passed by the Swiss parliament, those participating could be notified if there is a chance they are exposed to the virus through a so-called “Proximity-Tracing-System,” the Swiss Federal council said in a press release.

Research and development of a vaccine is to be sped up and access to a safe and effective vaccine for the population is to be ensured, the nation’s Federal Council says.

Health workers in hospitals will go back to regular shift and rest schedules as of June, as the situation in most hospital departments has normalized, the Federal Council added.

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a man to be tested for the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, on Tuesday, May 19.

Wuhan conducted 856,128 coronavirus tests on May 19, up from 467,847 tests on May 18, the city’s Municipal Health Commission said.

The city has now conducted 2,178,581 coronavirus tests since May 12.

Wuhan started conducting city-wide coronavirus testing on its citizens last week after health officials detected several new locally transmitted cases.

There were no new coronavirus cases reported in Wuhan on May 19, according to the National Health Commission.

Kenyan police officers inspects drivers at a checkpoint following a partial lockdown in two COVID-19 hotspots of Eastleigh in Nairobi and Mombasa City in Kenya, on May 7.

Kenya has reported 66 new coronavirus cases in the past day — it’s highest daily jump so far, bringing the overall number of cases to more than 1,000, its health ministry said Wednesday.

The coastal city of Mombasa has nearly half of those new cases, the ministry said, adding that all the patients are stable and in isolation.

A 6-year-old was the youngest person in Kenya to die of coronavirus, Ministry of Health Director General Patrick Amoth announced today.

At least 50 people have died in Kenya due to coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

The German Embassy in Kenya said it has donated two mobile labs to help ramp up testing on truck drivers at border points flagged as hot spots, especially the Namanga point, which borders Tanzania.