(Bloomberg) —
China suspended imports from a Tyson Foods U.S. poultry plant after a cluster of coronavirus cases. Germany also blamed outbreaks in the meat industry as the infection rate rose for a second day.
Florida cases rose 3.7%, more than the seven-day average, while New York infections increased 0.2%, in line with the average. A U.S. infectious disease researcher predicted a “forest fire of cases” and no let up this summer.
The U.K. will set out plans to further ease restrictions this week. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is considering an emergency reduction in the value-added tax, the Sunday Times reported.
Key Developments:
Global Tracker: Cases pass 8.8 million; deaths top 465,000Here’s what you need to know about phase two as NYC reopensTyson, Pepsi among companies hit by fallout of Beijing outbreakU.K. will set out further easing measures this weekCases increase 1.3% in Russia, 1.1% in IranTrump questions the U.S. case count
Subscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here. Click VRUS on the terminal for news and data on the coronavirus.
Italy Cases Slow (12:05 p.m. NY)
Italy registered 224 new cases compared with 262 on Saturday, based on figures released by the country’s civil protection agency. Total cases climbed to 238,499.
Lombardy reported 128 cases, or 57% of the national count; the region around Milan said last week that most new cases refer to past infections that are detected by increased testing.
Deaths rose by 24 compared with 49 Saturday, for a toll of 34,634.
U.S. Tracing Plan ‘Random’: Researcher (11:45 a.m. NY)
The U.S. lacks a clear plan for tracking the transmission of the coronavirus and to act to slow further spread, said Michael Osterholm, director for the Center for Infections Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
“We don’t have, even at a local level necessarily, the kind of plans that say, ‘this is what we’re going to do to get shut down transmission,’” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It’s almost, in some ways, seems random.”
The virus has a life of its own: ‘I don’t see this slowing down through the summer or end of the fall,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to see one, two and three waves. I think we’re going to just see one very difficult forest fire of cases.”
Cuomo Faults Trump on Response (11:30 a.m. NY)
Governor Andrew Cuomo faulted the Trump administration’s response to the outbreak, which he described as a type of “schizophrenia” with many officials, including the president, minimizing the risks.
“This was a federal crisis, the federal government should step in, aggressively, and own it,” the New York governor said on CBS’s “Sunday Morning.” “In my state, I owned the situation for better or worse. It was always a schizophrenia from the federal government. They would help when pushed to help.”
Cuomo also said “it was a mistake” for Trump to decline to wear a mask, but pressed on whether it was the president’s mistake, he said: “The history books are going to have to decide.”
Florida Cases Rise 3.7% (10:40 a.m. NY)
Florida reported 97,291 Covid-19 cases on Saturday, up 3.7% from a day earlier, compared with an average increase of 3.5% in the previous seven days. Deaths among Florida residents reached 3,161, an increase of 0.5%. On Saturday, the state reported a one-day record 4,049 new cases.
Protests Haven’t Added to Spread: Hopkins (10 a.m. NY)
Initial studies suggest protests after George Floyd’s death haven’t seemed to increase the rate of spread of the coronavirus, but Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said it was too soon to rule out the events as a source of infections.
“We know from what we’ve seen so far in the last few months that outdoors is less of a risk than indoors and that mask use has a major impact,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.”
The rally for Donald Trump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday is concerning, he said, because people were sitting close together, few wore masks and hands were being shaken without sanitizing. “All of those things will increase the risk of spread. We have seen in the past few months around the world that indoor gatherings have been the source of most super-spreading events.”
Dutch Police Try to Break Up Protest (9:27 a.m. NY)
Police warned people to stay away from the center of The Hague after they charged hundreds of what they called soccer fans with horses and a water cannon, the Associated Press reported. It was unclear exactly how many people turned up after The Hague mayor urged people to avoid a weekend demonstration targeting the Dutch government’s handling of the pandemic. The Netherlands reported just one death on Sunday, bringing the total to 6,090 out of 49,593 confirmed cases.
Portugal Steps Up Lisbon Testing (8:36 a.m. NY)
Portugal reported 292 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, taking the total to 39,133, the government said. Daily new cases have ranged between 192 and 421 in June. The additional cases are mostly in the greater Lisbon region, where authorities have increased testing after new clusters were identified. The total number of hospitalized patients and cases in intensive care units both fell.
China Suspends Imports From Tyson Plant (5:43 p.m. HK)
China Customs said it will suspend imports from a Tyson Foods poultry slaughterhouse where there has been a confirmed cluster of infections. All products from the plant that are about to arrive in China or have arrived at the country’s ports will be seized by customs, according to a statement from the government agency.
The Chinese government gave the registration code of the plant as P5842, which according to U.S. Department of Agriculture records is in Springdale, Arkansas. Tyson said Friday that 227 of 1,120 tests carried out on workers at the site were positive for the virus.
PepsiCo Shuts Beijing Plant After Test (5:37 p.m. HK)
PepsiCo China said it shut a local plant in Beijing after a coronavirus case was confirmed on June 15. The company conducted nucleic acid tests on all employees on June 16, and quarantined 480 employees on June 20 even though they all tested negative for the virus, one of its officials, Fan Zhimin, said at a local government briefing on the latest developments of the Beijing outbreak.
The company later said that the closed plant isn’t involved in its drinks operations, and no cases have been reported at its beverage plants.
Netanyahu Warns of Second Lockdown (5:28 p.m. HK)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel may have to renew its lockdown. More than 20,000 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Israel, including 305 fatalities. The number of cases has steadily risen, from less than 17,000 a month ago, after restrictions were significantly eased and many people ignored instructions to wear masks and maintain social distancing.
“If we don’t change our behavior immediately, and began to wear masks and keep a distance from each other, the lockdowns will return,” Netanyahu said. “None of us want that.”
Recovered Patients Test Positive in Study (4:42 p.m. HK)
In Denmark, a study of 200 patients who had recovered from Covid-19 showed that about 20% of them tested positive for the coronavirus four weeks or more after they had been declared healthy, TV2 reported. Scientists from the Aarhus Universtity said the preliminary results could indicate that the virus has somehow been “re-activated,” but there’s nothing to suggest the patients might be contagious, said Martin Tolstrup, the doctor behind the study. The scientists will now conduct new tests to determine whether the virus is still active in the patients’ bodies.
Germany’s Infection Rate Rises (2:16 p.m. HK)
The reproduction factor of the virus, known as R-naught, rose to 1.79 on Saturday compared with 1.06 the day before, according to the latest daily report by German health body, the Robert Koch Institute. There were 371 new infections in the 24 hours through Sunday morning, bringing the total to 190,670, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That compares with 439 on average over the past seven days and almost 7,000 at the peak of the pandemic in late March.
Australia’s Victoria State Emergency Extended (1:18 p.m. HK)
After an uptick in cases, the government of the Australian state whose capital is Melbourne, said it will continue to enforce physical distancing and isolation through July 20. The state recorded 19 new cases from Saturday to Sunday, the fifth day of double-digit increases and the most of any Australian jurisdiction, after hitting a two-month high of 25 on Saturday.
Indonesian Copper and Gold Mine Operation (12:28 p.m. HK)
PT Freeport Indonesia’s giant Grasberg copper and gold mine is operating normally despite 188 employees testing positive for the coronavirus, President Director Tony Wenas told MetroTV. The Papua mine’s output is “better than targeted,” Wenas said, even as the company imposes physical distancing measures to prevent the disease spreading.
Four employees have died from the virus and 134 have been discharged from hospital, Wenas said. Indonesia has the highest number of cases in Southeast Asia at more than 45,000, and also the highest number of fatalities at over 2,400.
Saudi Arabia Lifts Restrictions (12:12 p.m. HK)
Saudi Arabia decided to resume all commercial activities and lift restrictions on movement from Sunday even as coronavirus cases show no signs of easing. The curfew will be lifted across the nation from 6 a.m. local time, but international travel and the Muslim pilgrimage known as Umrah will continue to be banned.
The United Arab Emirates may reopen public and private universities and schools in September depending on the evolving situation, Gulf News reported.
Philippine Lockdown Baby Boom (10:28 a.m. HK)
The Philippines may see about 214,000 babies born from unplanned pregnancies next year as the lockdown to stem the virus outbreak also impeded access to birth control, the Star reported.
An initial study by the University of the Philippines’ Population Institute showed that strict quarantine measures imposed across most of the nation for at least two months from mid-March also prevented a third of health workers from reporting to health centers that provide family planning services, according to the report.
U.K.’s Sunak Mulls Cut to VAT (9:26 a.m. HK)
Sunak has asked officials to prepare various options to lower the levy, the Sunday Times said. He could make the announcement in a speech scheduled early July. The U.K. economy shrank by a fifth in April, jobless claims have doubled to almost 3 million and the national debt is now above 100% of economic output for the first time since 1963 as the vast cost of government efforts to save jobs and livelihoods piles up. Infections have risen to 304,580, while deaths have reached 42,674.
On Saturday, Sunak suggested that England’s social distancing rules may be relaxed, saying a decision is due in the coming week. The 2-meter (6 feet, 6 inches) rule, in place since March, has been criticized for undermining efforts to reopen shops, bars and other parts of the economy.
Non-essential shops opened this week, and pubs, cafes and restaurants are slated to restart as early as July 4.
Venezuela Restores Lockdown (9:17 a.m. HK)
The seven-day curbs in 10 states include restrictions on traffic on main highways, roads and avenues, while the metro in Caracas and rail service near the capital will be closed, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez announced in a TV address.
Trump Speech at Tulsa Rally (8:30 a.m. HK)
Besides saying he did a “phenomenal” job with the coronavirus and “saved hundreds and thousands of lives” by limiting travel from China and Europe, the president also questioned the case count. Schools in the U.S. have to open in fall as children have low risk of contracting the disease, he said, reiterating the U.S. tested more people than anywhere else.
Six members of the Trump re-election campaign’s advance team tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of Saturday’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, while Tulsa county reported a 6.6% increase in cases on Saturday
U.S. cases increased by 34,284 from the same time Friday, to 2.24 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. The 1.6% rise was above the average daily increase of 1.2% over the past week. Fatalities rose 0.6% to 119,460.
Brazil Cases Rise 3.4% (6:35 a.m. HK)
Brazil reported 34,666 new cases, a 3.4% increase, bringing the national total to 1.07 million, according to States Health Secretaries known as Conass on its website. Fatalities increased by 1,022, or 2.1%, to 49,976.
São Paulo, the state with the highest number of cases, reached 215,793 infections and 12,494 deaths.
For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com
Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.