Coronavirus Live Updates: Read The Latest About The COVID-19 Outbreak

COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, was officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11.

More than 3.5 million cases of the virus have been confirmed worldwide, and more than 247,000 people have died from it, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Efforts to curb the outbreak have led to the global disruption of daily life and the economy, as schools and workplaces shutter in hopes of slowing transmission.

HuffPost reporters around the world are tracking the pandemic and the measures being taken to flatten the curve of transmission.

Read the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic below. (To see the latest updates, you may need to refresh the page. All times are Eastern. For earlier updates on the pandemic, go here.)

Huge UK Hospital Built To Treat COVID-19 Patients Will Close — 5/04/20, 8:45 a.m. ET

A temporary hospital built in London will be mothballed as demand for intensive care beds in the U.K. falls.

The 4,000-bed Nightingale Hospital, opened by Prince Charles in London, was the largest critical care unit in the world. It will remain on “standby” in the event of a second wave of coronavirus cases.

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed the news Monday.

“It is not likely that, in the coming days, we will need to be admitting patients to NHS Nightingale London while coronavirus in the capital remains under control,” the spokesperson said. “That is obviously a very positive thing. We are grateful to everyone in London for following the government’s advice.”

Meanwhile, doctors have been told that emergency cover across some parts of the U.K. is being stood down during the upcoming bank holiday weekend in a further tentative sign that the worst of the crisis may be over.

Read more here.

— Nadine White

J. Crew Becomes First Big Retailer To Fail During Coronavirus Pandemic — 5/4/20, 7:15 a.m. ET

New York-based chain J. Crew filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, as the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated the retailer’s financial difficulties amid consumers’ shift to online shopping.

The retailer, known for its preppy fashions, will hand over control to its creditors in exchange for eliminating its debt. It will also permanently close some stores. The brand Madewell will continue as part of the group.

— Liza Hearon

Questions Over UK Lockdown As Europe Enters Next Phase — 5/04/20, 6:10 a.m. ET

Europeans are finally beginning to get “a little air” as 15 countries on the continent relax their lockdowns today, HuffPost France reported. Italy, Spain, Portugal and Slovenia are among the countries that will see their lockdowns lightened.

In Spain, which has experienced one of the toughest coronavirus lockdowns in Europe, preparatory “phase 0” for the first two weeks of May will see hairdressers and other businesses that offer service by appointment reopen, restaurants able to offer take-away services and professional sports leagues can go back to training.

France will begin to ease its lockdown on May 11, while U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to make a statement this week signaling what steps Britain will take to get the world’s fifth-largest economy back to work.

The U.K. government is obliged to review the lockdown by May 7 and Johnson has said he would like to set out a roadmap and a menu of options for easing restrictions.

— James Martin

DHS Report Accuses China Of Covering Up Outbreak To Hoard Medical Supplies — 5/4/20, 5:50 a.m. ET

Chinese leaders “intentionally” concealed the severity of the coronavirus outbreak from the world in early January, and increased imports and decreased exports of medical supplies to build up a stash, a Department of Homeland Security report obtained by the Associated Press alleges.

The criticism comes as Trump officials accuse China of being responsible for the spread of the disease. Trump opponents say the administration is lashing out at China to deflect criticism at home. There’s currently no public evidence of China’s missteps in disseminating information being an intentional plot to hoard medical supplies.

— Liza Hearon

‘Slow Restart’ As Europe’s Longest Lockdown Begins To Unwind — 5/04/20, 5:40 a.m. ET

The longest lockdown in Europe begins to ease today as Italy officially enters “Phase Two” of its coronavirus response.

Italy began its lockdown almost two months ago, and with almost 29,000 deaths from COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged on Feb. 21, Italy has the world’s second-highest toll after the United States.

HuffPost Italy reported it was a “slow restart” with around 4.5 million people allowed to return to work and families allowed to reunite.

While there were more people on the streets and an increase in cars on the roads, the country’s main cities all remained quiet with few queues and little use of public transportation.

— James Martin

Nebraska Pushing Ahead With Plans To Hold In-Person Election Amid Pandemic — 5/04/20, 5:15 a.m. ET

Despite health concerns about the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, Nebraska officials have said in-person voting will go ahead on May 12, the scheduled date of the state’s primary. As AP noted, it will be the nation’s first in-person election in over a month. Though Nebraskans have been encouraged to cast absentee ballots, Republican officials have insisted that it would “disenfranchise voters” to not open in-person polling sites.

“I don’t think Nebraskans are going to stay away from the polls or not vote because of a microbe,” Nebraska’s Secretary of State Bob Evnen said in April.

— Dominique Mosbergen

Former FDA Commissioner Warns Of Possible Fall Outbreak — 5/04/20, 4:50 a.m ET

Scott Gottlieb, Trump’s former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, warned that the U.S. could experience a new COVID-19 epidemic or “large outbreak” in the fall if people start to let “their guard down.”

Gottlieb told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that there were “concerning” signs that there is “a persistent spread” of the virus.

“While mitigation didn’t fail, I think it’s fair to say that it didn’t work as well as we expected. We expected that we would start seeing more significant declines in new cases and deaths around the nation at this point, and we’re just not seeing that,” he said, adding that “we may be facing the prospect that 20,000, 30,000 new cases a day diagnosed becomes a new normal and a thousand or more deaths becomes a new normal as well.”

He stressed the need to further mitigate the spread of the virus in the coming months. “If we don’t snuff this out more, that you have this slow burn of infection, it can ignite at any time,” Gottlieb cautioned.

— Dominique Mosbergen

Remdesivir To Be Deployed To ‘Most Urgent’ Patients Next Week — 5/3/20, 1:45 p.m. ET

Remdesivir, an antiviral medication that can speed up the recovery of COVID-19 patients, will be administered to patients with the “most urgent” need early next week, the head of the company manufacturing the drug said Sunday.

“We are grateful and really humbled that everything has moved so quickly,” Gilead Sciences Chairman and CEO Daniel O’Day told CBS’s “Face The Nation.” The company is “beginning to work with the government, which will determine which cities are most vulnerable and where the patents are that need this medicine.”

The Food and Drug Administration announced Friday that it had issued an emergency approval for the use of remdesivir to treat COVID-19 after clinical trials showed a roughly 30% faster recovery time in patients who received the medication.

— Hayley Miller

Hospitalizations In New York Dip Under 10,000 For First Time Since March — 5/3/20, 1:35 p.m. ET

The total number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in New York state has dropped below 10,000 for the first time since mid-March, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said during a news briefing Sunday.

“That is good news for all concerned,” Cuomo said, referring to the state’s report of 9,786 total hospitalizations on Saturday.

He added, however, that New Yorkers should continue to wear masks in public places and follow social distancing guidelines.“How can you not wear a mask? To me it’s disrespectful ... to the frontline workers,” Cuomo said. “Just be responsible.”

— Hayley Miller

Birx Calls Anti-Lockdown Protest in Michigan ‘Devastatingly Worrisome’ — 5/3/20, 1:15 p.m. ET

Dr. Deborah Birx, a leading infectious disease expert on the White House’s coronavirus task force, described a recent protest of Michigan’s stay-at-home order as “devastatingly worrisome” after video of the event showed participants flouting social distancing guidelines.

On “Fox News Sunday,” host Chris Wallace asked Birx to weigh in on from a public health perspective the hundreds of protesters who did not wear masks as they crammed inside Michigan’s state capitol building on Thursday.

“It’s devastatingly worrisome to me personally,” Birx said, “because if they go home and infect their grandmother or their grandfather who has a comorbid condition and they have a serious or an unfortunate outcome, they will feel guilty for the rest of our lives.”

“We need to protect each other at the same time we’re voicing our discontent,” she added.

— Hayley Miller

White House Blocks Anthony Fauci From Testifying Next Week — 5/1/20, 7:30 p.m. ET

The White House is blocking Dr. Anthony Fauci from testifying before a House panel next week on the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic. Fauci, a leading infectious disease expert, is a prominent part of the White House’s coronavirus task force.

A White House spokesman said in a statement that it would be “counterproductive” to have people who are involved in “safely opening up America again and expediting vaccine development” appear at congressional hearings. “We are committed to working with Congress to offer testimony at the appropriate time,” added White House spokesman Judd Deere.

The Trump administration has been criticized for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. leads the world in coronavirus cases, with more than 1 million confirmed cases as of Friday. Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has used the platform of the White House coronavirus briefings to repeatedly urge the American public to abide by social distancing guidelines, warning about a possible increase in cases if they don’t.

— Sarah Ruiz-Grossman

Northern California County Reopens Businesses Against Governor’s Order — 5/1/20, 1:45 p.m. ET

A small rural county in California near the Oregon border on Friday allowed businesses to reopen, including restaurants, despite the state’s existing stay-at-home order disallowing such reopenings during the pandemic.

Modoc County, which is home to about 9,000 residents, has had no confirmed COVID-19 cases so far, a local official told the Associated Press.

California as a whole has reported more than 48,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 2,000 deaths as of Thursday.

As other states across the country, including Texas and Georgia, have begun to reopen some businesses despite warnings from public health experts that this could lead to a possible spike in cases, California’s governor has stood firm in calling for people to stay home.

On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) closed all beaches in Orange County after large crowds over the weekend “raised alarm bells” about people’s willingness to comply with social distancing guidelines, he said.

— Sarah Ruiz-Grossman

Amazon, Walmart, Target, Instacart Workers To Strike Friday Over Safety Concerns — 5/1/20, 9:00 a.m. ET

A huge coalition of workers from several major U.S. companies are planning a general strike Friday to demand hazard pay and greater safety precautions as the deadly coronavirus continues to spread throughout the country.

Employees at Amazon, Instacart, Whole Foods, Walmart, Target, Shipt and FedEx are planning to participate. They will either call in sick or walk off the job during their lunch breaks, according to The Intercept.

In the current crisis, people who work in delivery and fulfillment centers have become essential employees for millions of Americans working and studying at home. Although the companies have initiated some new safety policies, many workers believe they could be doing more, particularly as profits appear to be surging. People who work these typically low-paid positions at Amazon, Whole Foods, Target and other companies are demanding hazard pay of an additional $5 per order, according to a press release about the strikes.

Workers are also demanding expanded access to personal protective equipment and the ability to stay home if they feel sick.

Amazon has been particularly opaque about the impact of COVID-19 among its workforce, going so far as to fire an employee back in March for staging a walkout in protest of its lax safety policies. It remains unclear how many Amazon workers have contracted or died of the disease, but a group of employees in Indiana estimates that the number of cases is at least 500 across more than 135 buildings.

— Sara Boboltz

1 Million People Worldwide Have Recovered From Virus — 5/1/2020, 5:30 a.m. ET

Countries around the world have reported 1,022,447 recoveries from COVID-19, Johns Hopkins data showed Friday. There have been more than 3.2 million total cases worldwide, with over 233,000 deaths. The U.S. has the highest number of recoveries — 153,947 — but also the highest number of deaths — 63,019.

The recovery milestone comes as some U.S. states and countries around the world take steps to reopen businesses and loosen lockdown measures, even though the pandemic is far from over.

— Liza Hearon

Poll Suggests Black And Latino New Yorkers More Likely To Know Someone Who Died Of COVID-19 — 4/30/20, 5:20 p.m. ET

We know that Black and Latino communities across the country have been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus crisis, but a new poll out of Siena College has helped quantify the impact in New York state.

Asked whether they personally knew somebody who had died of the virus, 25% of white respondents said they did, compared to 48% of Black respondents and 52% of Latino respondents. The pollsters surveyed 803 registered voters across the state that’s been hit hardest by COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.The gap was not so wide, however, when respondents were asked whether they knew somebody who had merely tested positive for the virus; 49% of white respondents said they had, compared to 53% of Black respondents and 62% of Latino respondents. Overall, a slim majority — 51% of all respondents — said they personally knew somebody who has tested positive.

The reasons Black and Latino people are dying of COVID-19 at disproportional rates are complex, but center around the country’s legacy of social inequality.

— Sara Boboltz

Chicago Announces Virtual Citywide High School Commencement — 4/30/20, 4:42 p.m. ET

Chicago is planning to host its first-ever virtual high school commencement ceremony for the entire city in June, as Chicago’s public schools remain closed for in-person classes through the end of the academic year.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the event Thursday in a TikTok video, where she’s first dancing in a button-down shirt and jeans and then later dancing in a graduation cap and gown. The mayor said that Oprah Winfrey will host the celebration for all 12th graders at Chicago’s public, private and charter schools who are currently missing out on high school milestones like prom and graduation.

“The times we are living in are historic and stunning, forcing us all to take a deep look at who we are as a people and our place in the world,” Lightfoot said in a statement obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times. “No one knows this better than Oprah, and I join all of Chicago in looking forward to hearing the wisdom she’ll be sharing with our incredible young people as they take this unforgettable next step on their life’s journey.”

The virtual celebration is expected to take place in mid-June, though specific details have not yet been released. The ceremony will include speeches, performances and feature student achievements, according to the Sun-Times.

New York City made a similar announcement on Tuesday, with Mayor Bill de Blasio saying the city’s high school seniors “have worked too hard to miss out on one of life’s defining moments.”

— Sanjana Karanth

Some States Begin Loosening Stay-At-Home Orders — 4/30/20, 3:55 p.m. ET

Some states are starting to loosen their stay-at-home orders meant to slow the spread of coronavirus, despite health experts cautioning that it is likely still too soon to reopen the economy.

Gov. Brian Kemp (R) will lift Georgia’s stay-at-home order for the majority of the state’s more than 10 million residents starting Friday, though he encouraged people to stay home when it’s possible for them. The order requires elderly and immunocompromised residents to stay home until June 12, and mandates businesses to abide by a list of existing restrictions through May 13 in order to remain open.

Kemp also urged Georgia residents for the first time to wear a mask in public, though he and his top health adviser said people can be more lenient at parks, beaches and other locations where there’s more room to social distance.

“It isn’t as if a switch has been flipped and everything has opened,” Georgia Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We’re moving into this phase carefully and cautiously and encouraging social distancing, wearing a mask in public.”

West Virginia also announced that the state will move from a stay-at-home order to what it called a “better-at-home” order starting Monday, a move that’s similar to the path Kemp is taking with Georgia.

States that are already beginning to loosen coronavirus restrictions have received fierce backlash from Democrats, health experts and even from President Donald Trump. Officials warn that lifting stay-at-home orders too soon could lead to a spike in cases.

— Sanjana Karanth

Deaf New Yorkers Sue Cuomo For Not Providing Sign Language Interpreter At Daily Briefings — 4/30/20, 12:57 p.m. ET

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is excluding deaf New Yorkers from his daily coronavirus press conferences, a new lawsuit from disability rights advocates alleges, urging the governor to provide an American Sign Language interpreter.

Filed Wednesday, the lawsuit claims that Cuomo is the only U.S. state governor not providing an ASL interpreter during his highly watched daily briefings, meaning that deaf New Yorkers are “unable to obtain vital life and death information at the time they need it most.”

In response, Cuomo’s office said an ASL version of each day’s briefing is available on Cuomo’s website. However, the lawsuit points out that this option is not available to people who don’t have internet access. Closed captioning, which is required by federal law, is also an insufficient alternative because it can be slow and inaccurate in real time, or if the person’s first language is not English.

More than 3.4 million Americans identify as deaf, and about 17 million report having “serious difficulty hearing,” according to a 2014 Census survey of Americans with disabilities. At least 200,000 residents of New York City, the epicenter of the global pandemic, are deaf or hard of hearing.

Read more here.

— Marina Fang

Well Again, Boris Johnson Returns To Daily UK Press Briefing — 4/30/20, 12:15 p.m. ET

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made his first appearance at the country’s daily press briefing since recovering from the coronavirus.

Johnson, whose fiancee Carrie Symonds gave birth to a son on Wednesday, said the United Kingdom is “past the peak” of the outbreak.

“We are past the peak and on the downward slope,” the prime minister said, speaking in Downing Street. “And we have so many reasons to be hopeful for the long term.”

Johnson also said he will reveal plans for lifting the lockdown next week.

The number of people who have died in the U.K. after contracting the coronavirus has risen by 674 in 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 26,711.

Read more here.

— James Martin

Fauci Says Remdesivir ‘Very Important First Step’ In COVID-19 Treatment — 4/30/2020; 7:55 a.m. ET

Remdesivir, an experimental drug that can speed up the recovery of COVID-19 patients, has passed the “gold standard” of testing to prove it’s both safe and at least modestly effective, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday.

“It’s a really important proof of concept because this is the first very highly powered [and] placebo-controlled, randomized trial,” Fauci told NBC’s “Today.” He called such trials the “gold standard of how you prove something is safe and either works or doesn’t work.”

“It’s the first step in what we project will be better and better drugs coming along either alone or in combination, drugs of this type and drugs addressing other targets of the virus,” he added. “So it’s good news. ... This is not the total answer by any means but it’s a very important first step.”

Roughly 1,100 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 worldwide have taken part in clinical trials to test remdesivir as a potential treatment for the disease caused by the coronavirus. Preliminary results indicate patients who receive the antiviral medication have a 31% faster time to recovery than those who received placebo. The U.S. government said it is working to make remdesivir available to patients as quickly as possible, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.

— Hayley Miller

South Korea Reports No New Domestic COVID-19 Cases For First Time In Months — 4/30/2020; 5:35 a.m. ET

South Korea on Thursday reported no new domestic coronavirus cases for the first time since February, The Guardian reported, citing numbers from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

The KCDC said it had recorded four new infections on Thursday — all of which were imported cases.

To date, 10,765 people have tested positive for the virus in South Korea; 247 have died.

— Dominique Mosbergen

Spain And France Hit By Dire Economic Data — 4/30/20, 5:30 a.m. ET

New economic data from Spain and France has shown the countries have seen an unprecedented collapse in their economies.

The French economy contracted by 5.8% in the first quarter of 2020, the biggest fall since quarterly GDP records began in 1949, and far exceeding the 1.6% decline seen at the peak of the financial crisis.

In Spain, GDP fell 5.2%, double the 2.6% contraction witnessed during the financial crisis.

The figures, which don’t take into account the month of April, officially push France into a recession, after GDP fell by 0.1% in the last quarter of 2019.

The governments of both countries, which this week announced plans to ease confinement measures, have come under increasing pressure to relax their lockdown to get people back to work.

The death toll from COVID-19 stands at 24,543 in Spain, while 24,087 have died in France.

— James Martin

21 ICE Detainees Reportedly Contract COVID-19 After Being Flown From One Jail To Another — 4/30/2020; 2:13 a.m. ET

Immigration and Customs Enforcement transferred more than 70 immigrant detainees from jails in New York and Pennsylvania to a prison in Texas earlier this month, BuzzFeed reported. Although the motivation for the move was apparently to allow for more social distancing at two northeast prisons, at least 21 of the transferred detainees have since tested positive for COVID-19.

ICE has previously reported that at least 425 immigrants in their custody had tested positive for coronavirus. As Newsweek noted on Tuesday, only around 700 detainees have received COVID-19 tests out of a population of approximately 40,000 in ICE custody.

— Dominique Mosbergen

Los Angeles Offers Free Coronavirus Testing For All Residents ― 4/29/20, 10:57 p.m. ET

Los Angeles is now offering free coronavirus testing to all residents of the nation’s second-largest city, including people who don’t have symptoms.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Wednesday that all 10 million residents of Los Angeles County can now get tested for COVID-19. The city has partnered with the county and Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) to provide the testing to residents regardless of whether they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms.

“Priority for the same or next day testing is still given to people with symptoms, such as fever, cough, and shortness of breath,” the city’s coronavirus testing webpage said. “Testing is also prioritized for certain critical front-line workers who interact with the public while working.”

Previously, testing was provided only to residents with symptoms and to essential workers and people in institutional environments such as hospitals and nursing homes. Testing is by appointment only, and residents can schedule an appointment on the city’s coronavirus website.

Los Angeles County had 35 testing sites as of April 21, according to the Los Angeles Times.

― Sanjana Karanth

UK Police Face ‘Tsunami’ Of Domestic Abuse Reports After Lockdown — 4/29/20, 11:50 a.m. ET

Police in Britain face dealing with a “tsunami” of domestic and sexual abuse reports when the coronavirus lockdown ends, U.K. lawmakers have been told.

Dame Vera Baird, a former member of Parliament who now supports victims of crime, said curbs on Britons due to COVID-19 meant many people were cooped up with their abusers at home.

The British government has been criticized for failing to create a domestic violence strategy ahead of the lockdown. The murder rate of women and children by men in the U.K. doubled this month.

Charges and arrests have gone up as much as 24% in some areas, but calls to organizations such as Women’s Aid have surged by 50%, suggesting the real problem could be masked by the lockdown. Baird said police must start preparing for a rush in official reports when restrictions are lifted.

— Rachel Wearmouth

Newsom Says California May Start Next School Year Earlier — 4/29/20, 8:00 a.m. ET

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he’s considering having his state’s public schools start the next school year earlier with a number of heavy modifications.

Newsom, speaking on NBC’s Today Show on Wednesday, said the changes could entail school times being staggered and lunch being eaten at desks instead of in a cafeteria. The changes, he admitted would be “very difficult.”

“If we’re ever going to get the economy moving again we’ve got to allow parents the ability to go back to work that can’t afford childcare and we’ve got to do it in a way that keeps our kids safe and our teachers safe and ultimately our community safe,” he said.