June 4 coronavirus news

Relatives carry the coffin of a suspected Covid-19 victim at the Nueva Esperanza cemetery on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, on Thursday, May 28.

Peru reported 137 new coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday, raising the national death toll to 5,031, according to the country’s health ministry. 

The number of coronavirus cases rose to 183,198 on Thursday, an increase of 4,284 from the previous day, according to the ministry. 

Peru has the second-highest number of coronavirus cases in Latin America, following Brazil, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally. 

Open graves are prepared in the Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on April 29.

The number of coronavirus-related cases and deaths in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo is likely to be underreported, a state health official said Thursday. 

Some of the coronavirus cases have likely been registered as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) due to the state’s low Covid-19 testing capacity, said Paulo Menezes, coordinator of the state’s health ministry. 

The state of Sao Paulo registered 5,717 new cases and 285 deaths related to coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the state’s health ministry announced at a news conference Thursday, bringing the total in Brazil’s most populous state to 129,200 cases and 5,717 deaths.

But the actual death toll is likely higher, Menezes said. 

Menezes added that the state of Sao Paulo – which has a population of more than 45 million and is the epicenter of Brazil’s outbreak – currently performs about 8,000 Covid-19 tests daily, while in April that average was about 1,000 tests per day. 

The state government forecasts that it will reach the daily testing capacity of European countries, such as Spain and Italy, within three months. 

There are at least 1,870,156 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 108,051 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.

On Thursday, Johns Hopkins has reported 18,636 new cases and 876 reported deaths. 

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

Trucks used as temporary morgues are seen outside the New York City Chief Medical Examiner's office on May 12 in New York.

A forecast published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now projects more than 127,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by June 27.

The ensemble forecast relies on 20 individual forecasts from outside institutions and researchers. The new projections, published Thursday, forecast 127,230 deaths by June 27, with a possible range of 118,450 to 143,340 deaths.

Unlike some individual models, the CDC’s ensemble forecast only offers projections for the next month. The previous ensemble forecast, published last Thursday, projected about 123,200 deaths by June 20.

The projections are published on the CDC’s “COVID-19 Forecasts” page, but they’re also featured on the agency’s “COVID Data Tracker.” On both sites, users can view state-level ensemble forecasts as well.

“Ensemble forecasts indicate that the rate of newly-reported deaths will vary among the states,” the CDC says on its forecasts page.

“In some states, cumulative deaths will increase at roughly the same rate as they have in recent weeks, while other states are likely to experience only a small number of additional deaths from COVID-19.”

An aerial view shows painted circles in the grass to encourage people to social distance at Washington Square Park in San Francisco on May 22.

Three different social-distancing strategies when reopening after lockdown can be effective in curbing the spread of Covid-19, according to a group of British and Swiss researchers who used computer simulations to compare the effects of each. 

Social distancing – maintaining physical distance and reducing social interactions — has been a key component of most governments’ attempts to reduce the spread of Covid-19. It’s been shown to help slow the rate of transmission and the growth rate of infection (aka: flattening the curve).

But complete or near-complete lockdowns have a down side: negative social, psychological and economic consequences. The new study, published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, evaluates three more moderate contact-reduction strategies to determine how well they keep the curve flat after a lockdown.

The three strategies are: contact with only similar people (for example, people who live close to each other geographically or are members of the same organization); strengthening contact within communities (for instance, where people only meet with friends when they have many friends in common); and repeatedly interacting with the same people in “bubbles” (limiting interactions to a few, repeated individuals). 

The researchers, who ran their models based on 500 to 4,000 people, found that all three slowed the spread of Covid-19, compared both to no social distancing and to non-strategic social distancing, where individuals randomly reduced interactions. Among the three, interacting in social bubbles was the most effective.

Because most people need to interact across multiple social groups, the researchers also tested the effectiveness of combinations of two or all three of the strategies. They found that combined strategies were as effective as single strategies and that all worked better than random social distancing or no social distancing at all. 

“As the pressure increases throughout a pandemic to ease stringent lockdown measures, to relieve social, psychological and economic burdens, our approach provides insights to individuals, governments and organizations about three simple strategies: seeking similarity; strengthening interactions within communities; and repeated interaction with the same people to create bubbles.”

The New England Journal of Medicine retracted a coronavirus study on Thursday, saying it could not guarantee the validity of the data used in the study.

It was the second journal to retract a coronavirus study that had been conducted using data provided by Surgisphere, which aggregated global health information for the research. Earlier Thursday, The Lancet also retracted a coronavirus study.

Both journals had signaled their worries in “expression of concern” earlier this week.

The study had found that certain heart disease drugs, including ACE inhibitors, didn’t worsen the risk of death for coronavirus patients.

Hear more:

A man gets a flu shot at a health facility in Washington January 31.

Flu vaccines and social distancing will be important defenses against coronavirus in the upcoming months, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said on Thursday. 

If a second wave of coronavirus hits when flu season is underway, it could really strain hospitals, Redfield said at a House Appropriations committee hearing on the Covid-19 response. If more people got flu vaccines, that could ease the strain, he said.

Plus, social distancing will continue to be important. “These social distancing strategies that we’ve learned are something we need to perfect, because we’re going to need them to be out major defense again, in October, November, December,” Redfield said. 

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins said 100 million doses of coronavirus could “perhaps” be available by early next year.

Asked when a coronavirus vaccine would be approved and available to the public, Collins said we could “perhaps have, if all goes well, maybe as many as 100 million doses by early 2021.”

That’s somewhat less optimistic than what Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday. 

Some context: The US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, a part of the Department of Health and Human Services, is currently funding research on five different experimental vaccines.

Pharmaceutical companies Moderna and AstraZeneca are currently in clinical trials, testing the vaccines on humans. Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, and Merck are developing a vaccine, but have not yet started clinical trials, according to the World Health Organization.

He said that large-scale clinical trials of “several” vaccines will start in July. He said each vaccine would be testing in a phase three trial involving 30,000 people, some of them receiving a vaccine and some receiving a placebo, or a shot that does nothing.

The study subjects will then go about their lives, and the researchers will tally up who contracts Covid-19 and who does not. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci , director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on April 29.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Thursday that if a restaurant is facing a Covid-19 outbreak among its employees, it should shut down.

Fauci went on to explain that if an establishment has only one employee infected, then it becomes a “judgment call.”

“You can get help from health authorities to say, what is the connectivity between that one person and everyone else,” Fauci said, adding, “if they’re not a high risk contact, you just make sure they get symptoms, they don’t come to work.”

“You’ve got to have a responsibility of not only protecting yourself and your employees, but also your clients and your customers,” Fauci said.

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins listens during a Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on new coronavirus tests on Capitol Hill May 7 in Washington.

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told CNN he’s concerned that vaccine “skepticism” could hinder the effort to immunize the country against Covid-19.

A vaccine could come on the market as early as next year, and Collins said he hopes “the American public will embrace this as an opportunity to protect themselves, and the rest of their community, in order to get us all back to some sort of normal state.” 

Some people have expressed concern that President Trump’s name for the campaign to develop a coronavirus vaccine — “Operation Warp Speed” — leaves the impression that scientists are rushing through the vaccine testing process.

“Maybe we’ve got some work to do to try to explain exactly once we have the data, why these vaccines are in fact proven to be safe and effective,” he added.

Collins said that despite the drive to get the vaccine out in record time, nothing would compromise the science.

“As a scientist, a physician and the director of the National Institutes of Health, we will make these decisions solely on the basis of the evidence for individual vaccines. This will not be influenced by other factors that might put people at risk,” he said.

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies at a Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee hearing about the COVID-19 response on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 4.

A new federal testing protocol calling for demographic information to be included with coronavirus tests is aimed at addressing racial and social disparities across the US, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said Thursday.

Speaking with Rep. Cheri Bustos, a Democrat from Illinois, at the House Appropriations hearing on the Covid-19 response, Redfield said he is concerned about the impact of coronavirus among communities of color. 

Bustos said communities of color often have limited access to certain resources, such as healthy foods, leading to higher risks of contracting Covid-19. 

Redfield agreed. 

The Health and Human Services Department released new guidance Thursday asking for testing sites to include demographic data like race, ethnicity, age, and sex. “I have every intent to get that data so we can begin to understand. Clearly, increasing access to knowledge of infection in vulnerable communities is critical to getting testing more available there,” Redfield said. 

Responding to Rep. Tom Cole, a Republican from Oklahoma, Redfield spoke out about the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on the Native American community and the resources that have been provided to them to try to help. 

As well as financial support, these include a number of rapid response teams “to basically provide technical assistance because they have had some of the more significant outbreaks.” 

A fisherman undergoes a rapid test of Covid 19 in Castro Urdiales, Spain, on May 4.

Only 5.2% of people in Spain have developed coronavirus antibodies so far, according to interim results from an ongoing government study announced on Thursday evening.

These results are consistent with those from the first phase of the study, which showed 5% of people in the country had antibodies – meaning they had been infected at some point. The second phase of the study took place between May 18 and June 1.

While it is still not clear if having antibodies means people are immune to reinfection, doctors believe they provide at least some immunity. Antibody testing also paints a picture of how much of the population has been infected so far.

More on the study: The study indicates a very slightly lower percentage of men (5.01%) have antibodies than women (5.40%).

And although the national average is 5.21%, the study shows geographical differences, also very similar to those observed in the first round, with 10% of the population testing positive for antibodies both in Madrid and surrounding provinces. 

The government researchers also said one third of those infected don’t show symptoms.

A pharmacy tech holds pills of Hydroxychloroquine at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah, on May 20.

A large study that said Covid-19 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were more likely to die or develop dangerous side effects was retracted by three of its authors on Thursday.

The study, published May 22 in the medical journal The Lancet, had provided a counterpoint to President Trump, who has called hydroxychloroquine a “game-changer.”

The study used data from Surgisphere Corporation, which describes itself as a “public service organization dedicated to making the world a better place.” Questions about Surgisphere’s data emerged shortly after the study published on May 22.

In their retraction, three researchers, Dr. Mandeep Mehra, Dr. Frank Ruschitzka and Dr. Amit Patel, wrote that, after concerns were raised about the data and analyses conducted by Surgisphere and its founder, Sapan Desai, a co-author of the study, they launched a third-party peer review, with Desai’s consent. They aimed to confirm “the completeness of the database, and to replicate the analyses presented in the paper.”

“Our independent peer reviewers informed us that Surgisphere would not transfer the full dataset, client contracts, and the full ISO audit report to their servers for analysis as such transfer would violate client agreements and confidentiality requirements. As such, our reviewers were not able to conduct an independent and private peer review and therefore notified us of their withdrawal from the peer-review process,” the three researchers wrote.

In a statement, The Lancet said it “takes issues of scientific integrity extremely seriously, and there are many outstanding questions about Surgisphere and the data that were allegedly included in this study,” and said “institutional reviews of Surgisphere’s research collaborations are urgently needed.”

Retractions of studies published in peer-reviewed medical journals are rare. Earlier this week, The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine issued expressions of concern about Surgisphere data used in two separate studies.

Other studies have also found Covid-19 patients did not benefit from treatment with hydroxychloroquine, and they may have experienced serious side effects due to the treatment.

An NBA logo is shown at the 5th Avenue NBA store on March 12 in New York City.

The NBA’s Board of Governors have voted to restart the suspended 2019-2020 season with 22 of the league’s 30 teams taking part. The decision will now be considered by the players union who need to approve the plan.

The new schedule will see training camps open the first half of July with a tentative resumption of the regular season on July 31.

The NBA says the season restart is contingent on a deal made to utilize the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, as an isolated campus to hold all games, practices and residency.

In a statement, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said, “The Board’s approval of the restart format is a necessary step toward resuming the NBA season. While the COVID-19 pandemic presents formidable challenges, we are hopeful of finishing the season in a safe and responsible manner based on strict protocols now being finalized with public health officials and medical experts. We also recognize that as we prepare to resume play, our society is reeling from recent tragedies of racial violence and injustice, and we will continue to work closely with our teams and players to use our collective resources and influence to address these issues in very real and concrete ways.”

French soldiers parade in military vehicles during the Bastille Day military parade down the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris on July 14, 2019.

France will replace its traditional Bastille Day parade down the Champs-Élysées in Paris with a smaller military ceremony due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Minister of Armed Forces, Florence Parly, said Friday.

The July 14 ceremony will be a scaled down celebration and will include a tribute to health care workers.

An Elysée spokesperson told CNN that the gathering in Paris would be about half the size, reduced to 2,000 participants and about 2,500 guests.

“An air parade will honour the participation of our armies in the fight against Covid-19, through Operation Resilience, in which our armed forces have helped for instance in the repatriation and displacement of ill people,” the spokesperson said.

Parly tweeted the parade is a “moment of union and pride” and “because the 2020 edition will pay tribute to the caregivers,” the celebrations will go ahead on a smaller scale.

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins told CNN that when the world eventually gets a coronavirus vaccine, it might require two doses to be fully effective.

“Obviously that’s not our favorite. It would be much better if this could all be done with a single injection,” Collins said.

Generally, with any vaccine, one dose is preferred for cost reasons, and also because people are less likely to show up twice to receive an injection.

Collins said the large-scale clinical trials of several experimental vaccines, expected to start next month, will reveal whether one or two doses will be necessary. 

The US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a part of the Department of Health and Human Services, is currently funding research on five different experimental vaccines. Pharmaceutical companies Moderna and AstraZeneca are currently in clinical trials, testing the vaccines on humans. Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, and Merck are developing a vaccine, but have not yet started clinical trials, according to the World Health Organization.

Medical professionals prepare to administer a coronavirus test at a drive-thru testing site run by George Washington University Hospital on May 26 in Washington.

Washington, DC, has seen an uptick in Covid-19 cases that occurred on May 30 due to a backlog in testing results.

Officials now anticipate a possible new peak in cases.

Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser said the numbers “are what they are,” and encouraged residents to get tested.

The mayor has previously acknowledged the possibility of an uptick in cases due to protests, but that likely won’t be seen for weeks.

Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), attends a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on "COVID-19 Response" on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 4.

The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the agency continues “to have a close collaboration” with the World Health Organization (WHO), despite a recent announcement from President Trump that he was terminating the US relationship.

Dr. Robert Redfield said during a House Appropriations hearing on the Covid-19 response that the CDC has been working with WHO as recently as the last few days.

“Unfortunately, we have a new Ebola outbreak now in the Western Congo and we’ve we jumped right in with WHO and the Ministry of Health to begin to confront that Ebola outbreak,” he said.

Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, right, hold a news conference with Social Minister Lena Hallengren, in the Government Offices in Stockholm, Sweden, on June 4.

Sweden will ease its travel restrictions stating June 13 to allow those who do not have any symptoms of coronavirus to move around the country, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Thursday, his spokesperson told CNN.

“This decision does not mean that the danger is over,” Lofven said during a news conference. “It doesn’t mean that life is back to normal again, and other restrictions remain in place.”

“If the curve showing the seriously ill turns up again, there will be new restrictions.” 

Starting June 8, seasonal workers in agricultural, forestry and horticulture from the European Union will be allowed in Sweden.

Belgian borders will be open for countries in the EU, UK and for non-EU members countries within the Schengen zone from June 15, a federal government spokesperson told CNN. Belgium will allow almost all businesses to reopen on June 8, including cafes and bars, which will have to comply with social distancing measures. 

Virgin Atlantic has announced its plan to restart passenger flying, with services from London Heathrow to Orlando, Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles set to resume starting July 20 and 21, the company said Thursday in a statement.

“As countries around the world start to relax travel restrictions, Virgin Atlantic will resume some routes on 20th July, while steadily increasing passenger flying throughout the second half of 2020, with a further, gradual recovery through 2021 in line with customer demand,” the statement said.

The Jordanian government announced further steps to reopen the country as the kingdom decreased its coronavirus risk level to “moderate,” Prime Minister Omar Razzaz said in a televised briefing on Thursday, adding that less than ten cases a day were recorded over the past week.

These are the new guidelines:

Some background: Jordan moved early by implementing one of the strictest lockdown measures in the Middle East after recording its first coronavirus case in March.

The country has since recorded some of the lowest case numbers in the region with 765 cases and nine deaths, according to the country’s Health Ministry figures.

The kingdom began easing restrictions in May and last week announced it will allow the opening of mosques and churches for worship, according to Jordanian religious leaders.

Jordan remains under defense Law, an emergency law that gives the government sweeping powers.