U.S. Cases Up 0.9%; Texas Tops 500,000 Infections: Virus Update

Get the latest news developments on the Covid-19 pandemic from across the globe, here.

Florida reported another day of record deaths among residents, while Texas topped half a million cases. The Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences will postpone football this fall, putting one of the biggest cash cows in college sports on the brink.

Russia registered its first coronavirus vaccine, President Vladimir Putin said. The move to enable broad use of the shot is conditional, and trials will continue while production gets underway, according to the health minister.

Hong Kong had the fewest cases since the start of the financial hub’s latest outbreak, while infections continued to rise in India and Germany. New Zealand put Auckland into lockdown after the country reported its first local cases in more than 100 days.

Key Developments

  • Global Tracker: Global cases top 20.1 million; deaths pass 738,000
  • Trump end run around Congress fails to jolt stalled relief talks
  • World’s airports are roiled by drop-off in free-spending travelers
  • India’s vaccine billionaires are ready to make a billion doses
  • Moderna wants to transform the body into vaccine-making machine

Subscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here. Click CVID on the terminal for global data on coronavirus cases and deaths.

Texas Cases Top 500,000 (4:50 p.m. NY)

Texas posted 8,913 new cases, pushing the cumulative total to 500,620, according to state health department data.

Despite the rising case tally, hospitalizations declined for an eight consecutive day, dipping to 7,216, the lowest since July 1. The fatality count rose by 220 to 8,710.

Pac-12 Follows Big Ten in Postponing Football (4:32 p.m. NY)

The Pac-12 conference said it will postpone all sports until the end of the year, joining the Big Ten in delaying the cash-cow college football season.

The Pac-12, which includes Stanford University, the University of Southern California and the University of Arizona, said sports could be reconsidered after Jan. 1.

U.S. Cases Rise 0.9% (4 p.m. NY)

Coronavirus cases in the U.S. increased 0.9% as compared with the same time Monday to 5.12 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. The increase was lower than the average 1.1% daily gain over the past week. Deaths rose by 0.5% to 164,137.

  • California reported 12,500 new confirmed infections, its second-biggest one-day increase and above the 14-day average of 7,704.
  • Florida reported a record 276 new Covid-19 deaths Tuesday, bringing the total to 8,553. The state reported a 542,792 cases, up 1.1% from a day earlier, compared with an average increase of 1.3% in the previous seven days.
  • Hawaii experienced a 4% increase in cases, bringing the total to 3,638, according to the data from Johns Hopkins and Bloomberg News.

Germany Declares Madrid, Basque Region Risk Areas (3:25 p.m. NY)

Germany has classified Madrid and the Basque region as places of risk due to rising coronavirus infection rates and warned against unnecessary travel to those areas of Spain. The move, announced Tuesday on the Foreign Ministry’s website, means that travelers returning from the two regions must either submit to 14 days of quarantine or take a free test on arrival in Germany.

The regions of Aragon, Navarra and Catalonia were already designated by Germany as areas of risk, dealing a blow to hopes of a swift revival in Spanish tourism. Infection rates remain relatively low in southern Spain and in the Balearic and Canary islands, the ministry said.

California Cases Jump Amid Test Backlog (2:30 p.m. NY)

California reported 12,500 new confirmed infections, its second-biggest one-day increase and above the 14-day average of 7,704. The state has been working through a test backlog stemming from data-reporting issues in its system, which it has said may add to cases over the next few days. There were 109 new deaths, less than the 14-day average of 139.

Governor Gavin Newsom said Monday that even with the data backlog there are “encouraging signs” that California’s outbreak is improving, pointing to decreased hospitalizations. They fell another 0.8% in Tuesday’s data and are down 23% from a peak three weeks ago.

French PM Seeks Outdoor Face Masks (2:25 p.m. NY)

French Prime Minister Jean Castex warned the coronavirus situation is “evolving in the wrong way,” and he’ll ask local authorities to extend the imposition of face masks outdoors. France will also prolong the ban on events of more than 5,000 people to Oct. 30 as the country recorded 1,397 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday.

Moderna Falls Amid Report on Patent Issues (12:45 p.m. NY)

Moderna Inc. fell as much as 7% after Reuters and Axios highlighted language in a filing from last week where the company discussed patent risks to its Covid-19 vaccine.

“We cannot be certain that we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our patents or pending patent applications,” Moderna said in a filing Aug. 6 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

N.Y. Adds to Quarantine List (11:30 a.m. NY)

New York state on Tuesday added Hawaii, South Dakota and the Virgin Islands to its mandatory quarantine list, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo. Visitors traveling from hot spots including 31 states, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, must quarantine for 14 days when traveling to New York state. Alaska, New Mexico, Ohio and Rhode Island were removed from the list after the number of Covid-19 cases fell, according to the Tuesday announcement.

Houston ICU Use Keeps Dropping (11:15 a.m. NY)

The Houston metropolitan area saw Covid-19 patients in intensive-care unit wards drop 6% to 545, the lowest since June 23, according to the SouthEast Texas Regional Advisory Council.

The region’s virus ICU tally has tumbled 45% since peaking at 990 on July 18, Setrac said on its website. The region includes Houston and eight surrounding counties.

Florida Posts Record Deaths (11:05 a.m. NY)

Florida reported a record 276 new Covid-19 deaths among residents Tuesday, bringing the cumulative total to 8,553. The state reported a cumulative 542,792 Covid-19 cases, up 1.1% from a day earlier, compared with an average increase of 1.3% in the previous seven days, according to the health department report, which includes data through Monday. The new rate of people testing positive for the first time rose to 10.3% for Monday, from 8.6% on Sunday.

Student Drinking Sparks Concern in Norway (10:55 a.m. NY)

Norway’s government has appealed to students and other young people to be more respectful of social distancing in order to quell a resurgence in the spread of Covid-19 and avoid a fresh lockdown.

New cases of coronavirus are on the rise in the Nordic country, with people in their 20s showing the highest increase, according to official figures. About 300,000 students are going to university this week, sparking concerns that contagion will be boosted by back-to-school parties. Norway has been one of the first countries in Europe to lift restrictions introduced to contain the pandemic.

Virus Worsens the U.S. Gender Pay Gap (10:50 a.m. NY)

The pandemic will likely make the gender pay gap worse as the U.S. economy recovers but could ultimately improve opportunities for women, according to a paper distributed by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

In a regular recession, the pay gap between men and women shrinks by two percentage points as men tend to get hit harder by job losses, according to the paper published this month. But in a pandemic recession, that gap increases by five percentage points, the report said.

Dutch Cases Jump From Week Before (8:45 a.m. NY)

A total of 4,036 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed in the Netherlands in the past week, up from the 2,588 cases reported in the seven days before, the RIVM Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment said.

The reproduction number, which shows the pace at which the virus is spreading, rose to 1.30 in the week ending Aug. 11 from 1.20 the week before. Fatalities in the country have risen at a much slower pace.

Hamburg Extends Alcohol Ban to Thwart Street Drinking (8:20 a.m. NY)

The German city of Hamburg has extended a ban on alcohol sales from outlets like kiosks and gas stations in a bid to thwart street gatherings that could fan the spread of the coronavirus.

The ban will run from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time this Friday and Saturday and applies to areas such as Altona in the western part of the port city, as well as the center.

U.K. Pandemic Plan Subsidized 10.5 Million Meals (7:31 a.m. NY)

U.K. restaurants claimed for 10.5 million subsidized meals in the first week of a government program designed to help the sector recover from the impact of coronavirus. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s “Eat Out to Help Out” program aims to encourage people to visit restaurants in August by giving them as much as 50% off the cost of their meals.

Data from online booking service OpenTable suggest the program is effective. From Monday to Wednesday last week, the days the discounts applied, bookings were up on last year by 5% to 20%. On the Thursday, they were down 31%.

Vietnam Adds 16 Infections (7:19 a.m. NY)

Vietnam reported 16 new cases, bringing the number of infections tied to the July 25 outbreak in Danang to 405, according to the health ministry. The country has had 863 virus cases, including 448 patients under treatment and 16 deaths.

Iran Reports 184 New Deaths (6 a.m. NY)

Iran recorded 184 fatalities and 2,345 new cases of Covid-19 over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 18,800 deaths and 331,189 infections. About 4,000 people are in intensive care.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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