Global coronavirus cases now top 8.5 million, having added another 1 million cases in just over a week. Hot spots in Latin America and the Middle East have contributed to the rise, with cases still ticking higher in the U.S. and cases in Europe hitting a relative plateau.
Local U.S. officials continue to adjust reopening guidelines, as states in the South and West experience surges in Covid-19 cases. In Arizona, where cases hit a record single-day increase Thursday, Gov. Doug Ducey is allowing local and city officials to require the wearing of face masks. All residents in California are now required to wear masks in public and in businesses after that state reported its record single-day increase in new cases on Thursday. And in Texas, another state that reported a record single-day increase on Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott has allowed select cities to enforce mask requirements under the threat of a fine.
This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks.
- Global cases: More than 8.5 million
- Global deaths: At least 454,359
- U.S. cases: More than 2.19 million
- U.S. deaths: At least 118,435
The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Cases in Middle East and Asia surge
Pandemic may delay the arrival of new medicines
8:43 a.m. ET — The pandemic postponed the start of clinical trials for potentially life-changing, new medicines as doctors focused on treating patients sickened with Covid-19.
It may now delay the market arrival of those medicines as the Food and Drug Administration faces a backlog once drugmakers finish their trials and submit their drugs for regulatory approval.
Reviews for new drug applications can take anywhere from several months to a year. The last time the FDA risked huge delays was during the partial government shutdown in early 2019. The FDA was able to keep most of its lights on, but the shutdown forced it to furlough almost half of its workforce and it was not able to accept new applications or fees. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr.
Private jet companies court new flyers amid health fears
As people seek to avoid large airports and commercial flights, interest in charter flights is on the rise.
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8:30 a.m. ET — Private jet companies are flying 70% or more of their normal, pre-pandemic schedules, even as commercial traffic stands at 15% to 17% of 2019 totals.
Big names in the private flight field, including NetJets, PrivateFly and Vista Jet, have reported a higher than usual level of interest from people who have never flown private as health fears and lower prices draw them away from commercial. Though business travel is nearly nonexistent, private jet companies say the need for safe and secluded travel has spurred new demand.
Prices for certain private flights are now 30% to 50% cheaper than they were a year ago. The government also suspended the excise 7.5% tax on private-jet flights as part of the stimulus package. Read more on the fresh interest in private flying from CNBC’s Robert Frank. —Alex Harring
Coronavirus mortgage bailout shrinks for third straight week
8:17 a.m. ET — As the country reopens, the number of borrowers seeking relief on mortgage payments has decreased for a third straight week, CNBC’s Diana Olick reports.
Roughly 4.6 million homeowners were in forbearance plans as of June 16, representing 8.7% of all active mortgages. That’s just slightly below the 8.8% that were in forbearance in the previous period, according to Black Knight, a mortgage data and technology firm.
These forbearance plans allow homeowners to delay monthly payments for at least three months. The number of borrowers decreased by 57,000 from last week and by 158,000 from the peak week of May 22. Bank-held loans or loans in private-label securities, however, saw an increase in total forbearances by 6,000. –Suzanne Blake
India reports record rise of new cases, southern city of Chennai back in lockdown
A health worker collects swab sample from a man to test for COVID-19 infection, at a dispensary in Dilshad Garden, on June 18, 2020 in New Delhi, India.
Biplov Bhuyan | Hindustan Times via Getty Images
7:15 a.m. ET — India reported a record rise in the number of coronavirus cases on Friday, Reuters reported, as the country’s health ministry recorded more than 13,000 new infections and over 300 additional deaths in the last 24 hours.
India has reported the fourth-highest number of Covid-19 cases in the world, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, behind only the U.S., Brazil and Russia, respectively.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had lifted most lockdown restrictions earlier this month, even as coronavirus cases continued to rise, but the southern city of Chennai has now been placed back into lockdown following a fresh outbreak of infections. —Sam Meredith
Germany’s contact tracing app downloaded nearly 10 million times, government says
People wearing protective face masks walk on the main shopping street in Munich, Germany during the coronavirus crisis on April 30 2020.
Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
7:01 a.m. ET — Germany’s contact tracing app, which was released on Tuesday, has been downloaded 9.6 million times, a government spokeswoman told Reuters.
The app, which was developed in part by SAP and Deutsche Telekom, uses Bluetooth technology to alert people who might have been exposed to someone who tests positive for the coronavirus. The app does not collect data in a central database, Reuters previously reported, quelling some privacy concerns.
Some countries, including South Korea and Singapore, had early success in containing the virus, in large part thanks to tech-enabled contact tracing. However, Europe and the U.S., where some say people are more skeptical of government and big technology companies, have been slower to adopt and develop such technology. —Will Feuer
Read CNBC’s previous coronavirus live coverage here: China publishes virus genome data from Beijing outbreak as capital city reports 25 cases