U.S. Cases Climbed 1.4%; Washington State Warning: Virus Update

(Bloomberg) --

U.S. cases increased 1.4%, the biggest one-day rise so far in June and higher than the weekly average. New York City subway ridership was up 19% this week as people got back to work.

Washington state health officials warned cases and deaths may soon increase substantially. Florida’s infections rose the most in six weeks. New York’s deaths were the lowest since the pandemic began.

AstraZeneca Plc will give European nations doses of Oxford University’s vaccine at no profit, as Pfizer’s CEO said he expects a drug by October. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. has a deal with Gilead Sciences Inc. for Remdesivir.

Key Developments:

• Virus Tracker: Cases pass 7.7 million; deaths exceed 428,000
• Businesses transformed by Covid-19 plan to keep the changes
• Tracking the U.S. small business impact from coronavirus
• Asia’s densest slum has become a model for beating the virus
• American’s wary steps onto airplanes revives jet fuel markets
• England, a nation of shopkeepers, gets ready to open its doors
• As lockdown lifts, New York City still longs for its old self
• How a “second wave” sparks renewed pandemic fears

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. For a look back at this week’s top stories from QuickTake, click here.

Washington State Warns of Surge in Cases (4:40 p.m NY)

Washington state’s cases and deaths may “soon increase substantially” in four counties in the south-central region as transmission continues to accelerate, the health department said in a report.

The uptick is probably tied to Memorial Day activities and not recent protests, the department said. However, The trend “will lead to increasingly explosive growth in cases and deaths if not contained,” according to the report. The counties in the region may need efforts to expand hospital capacity and testing, it said.

Governor Jay Inslee said the state will develop “some creative solutions” to control the spread.

Turkey’s Cases Rise for 4th Day (4:20 p.m. NY)

Turkey’s new cases rose for a fourth straight day as the nation continued to ease lockdown measures. The government reported 1,459 daily cases, the most since May 16. Fourteen people died, bringing the death toll to 4,792.

Turkey declared “mission accomplished” in its fight against the outbreak May 20, when new cases fell below 1,000 for the first time since the outbreak. Saturday was the second day they exceeded that total since May 29.

U.S. Cases Rose 1.4%, Biggest Jump in June (4 p.m. NY)

Cases in the U.S. increased by 28,312 from the same time Friday to 2.06 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. The 1.4% jump was above the average daily increase of 1.1% for the past week, and the highest so far in June. Deaths rose 0.8% to 115,059.

• New York had 916 new cases, a 0.2% increase, raising the total to 382,630, and deaths reported by the health department at 24,527.
• New Jersey reported 523 new cases, a 0.3% advance, pushing the total to 166,605, with 103 new deaths, for a total of 12,589.
• California cases rose 2.6%, or 3,660 -- the second-biggest one-day increase -- for a total of 145,643, with 46 new deaths, a 0.9% rise, to 4,989.
• Illinois registered 673 new cases, a 0.5% rise, for a total of 131,871, with 29 deaths, pushing the toll to 6,289.
• Pennsylvania reported 463 new cases, a 0.6% increase, bringing the statewide total to 78,462, with 49 new deaths, taking the toll to 6,211.

South Africa Posts Record Cases (3:50 p.m. NY)

South Africa reported a record 3,809 new cases, bringing the total to 65,736. Cape Town, the main tourist hub, and the surrounding Western Cape province, remains the nation’s epicenter for the pandemic, with 62% of infections.

In the past few days, a surge in cases has been reported in the central Gauteng region, which includes Johannesburg, the largest city, and Pretoria, the capital. The national death toll stands at 1,423, or 2.2% of the total.

Subway Ridership Up 19% For Week (3 p.m. NY)

New York City is slowly riding back to work as businesses started to reopen, with a fifth more subway commuters from the previous work week, according to Metropolitan Transportation Authority data.

The subway carried an average of 877,158 passengers from Monday to Friday, up from 735,747 the same days a week earlier. That’s also twice as many as in mid-April, peak of the outbreak. Before Covid-19, the system carried almost 6 million riders on Feb. 5.

At Penn Station, the hub for the Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak, weekday traffic posted a similar gain to an average of 15,430, down from the year’s high of about 166,000 in January. Subway ridership at Grand Central Terminal, which serves points north of the city, rose 15% from the week before, to an average of 13,248, less than a 10th of its 2020 peak.

Chile’s Health Minister Resigns (2:15 p.m. NY)

Chile’s Health Minister Jaime Manalich, who backed limited steps over broader action, resigned Saturday as the daily death toll hit a record and new cases soared. Enrique Paris, former head of the Medical College, was named as his successor.

Manalich had promoted dynamic lockdowns that restricted movement in specific neighborhoods rather than entire cities. The policy ultimately failed as new cases spiraled in May, forcing all of Santiago into a lockdown.

Chile now has more cases per capita than any other country after Qatar and Bahrain. Chile reported a record 231 new deaths Saturday, and 6,509 new cases. That brought total cases to 167,355, more than France, and fatalities to 3,101.

Pfizer CEO Expects October Vaccine (1:40 p.m. NY)

A vaccine to fight Covid-19 could be ready in October, barring any setbacks, Pfizer’s Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in an interview with the Greek newspaper Kathimerini.

If things continue to go well and “we won’t find ourselves in front of any surprises, in October we may have a vaccine,” he said. The aim is for pharmaceutical companies and the relevant authorities worldwide to be sure the vaccine is safe and effective when it’s ready, Bourla said.

He said Pfizer’s budget has $2 billion for investments in research on anti-virus drugs and mainly for the vaccine.

N.Y. Deaths ‘Lowest So Far’ (12:30 p.m. NY)

New York reported 32 deaths, “the lowest so far,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said, as new cases inched higher by 0.2%, in line with the seven-day average. The state registered 916 cases, up from 822 a day earlier. Total infections reached 382,630.

Cuomo, at his daily briefing, said the state was an “anomaly” with the daily increase of cases steady or declining as, he noted, more than two dozen states are reporting increases in new infections.

The state registered the fewest hospitalizations since the pandemic began, down to 1,734 -- lowest since March 20. DCeaths are

Italy’s New Cases Rise (12:20 p.m. NY)

Italy registered 346 new cases Saturday, compared with a daily average of 274 this month through Friday. The country had a one-day peak of 6,557 on March 21. A total of 236,651 cases have been reported since the end of February. The death toll rose to 34,301 with 55 fatalities on Saturday. About 61% of new cases were reported in Lombardy, the virus epicenter in Italy’s north that includes Milan.

Florida Cases Jump 3.6% (11:55 a.m. NY)

Florida reported its biggest single-day increase in new cases since the state began releasing daily reports on April 25. New cases rose to 73,552 on Saturday, up 3.6% from a day earlier and well above the average increase of 2.1% in the previous seven days. Deaths among Florida residents reached 2,925, a 1.7% increase.

The new positivity rate -- people testing positive for the first time among overall tests in a day -- was 6.28% on Friday, the fourth straight day at or above 5%. Hospitalizations rose 168, pushing the total who have been hospitalized to 11,874 since the crisis began.

Latin America Accounts for 40% of New Cases (10:30 a.m. NY)

Infections in Latin America now exceed 1.4 million, more than a quarter of the world’s total, and the region accounts for more than 40% of all new cases, based on World Health Organization data.

Mexico reported 5,222 cases on Friday, Chile announced 6,754 and Argentina had 1,391 -- all of them new highs. Chile registered its highest daily death toll to date, with 222. Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, has almost four times as many cases as any other country in the region.

Covid Persists in Lisbon Region (10:10 a.m. NY)

Portugal reported 283 new cases, below 300 for a second day and taking the total to 36,463, the government said Saturday. There were seven new deaths. The total number of hospitalized patients fell while cases in intensive care rose from Friday.

The additional cases are mostly in the greater Lisbon region, where authorities have increased testing after new clusters were identified.
“This is a marathon,” Secretary of State for Health Antonio Lacerda Sales said in Lisbon on Saturday.

Gabon Cuts Budget on Virus Shock (9:50 a.m. NY)

Gabon cut its 2020 budget by 9% due to the economic shock caused by the coronavirus, according to a statement following a cabinet meeting on Friday. The oil-dependent central African nation revised its investment expenditure down 26% after initially calculating its budget based on crude at $57 a barrel, it said.

AstraZeneca Europe Vaccine Deal (9:06 a.m. NY)

AstraZeneca Plc said it will provide up to 400 million doses of a vaccine it’s developing with Oxford University to Europe starting at the end of the year. The company said it struck an agreement with the Inclusive Vaccines Alliance spearheaded by Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands. It’s reached similar agreements with the U.K., U.S. and global vaccine groups.

California Blackouts Could Hit Home Offices (8 a.m. NY)

Blackouts that hit millions of Californians in 2019 could be doubly calamitous this year with tech giants Google, Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. among the many companies keeping offices closed until the fall or later in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

If utilities cut power again, home offices set up during the pandemic could go dark and stay dark for days, and they’ll have no corporate offices to flee to for power. In October 2019, more than 3 million people were affected by a series of rolling blackouts over more than a week as PG&E Corp. and Edison International tried to prevent live wires from sparking wildfires.

German Cases Increase (7:30 a.m. NY)

Germany had 572 new cases in the 24 hours through Saturday, bringing the total to 187,263, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That compares with 169 the previous day and almost 7,000 at the peak in late March. The number of deaths was 16 after 20 the previous day. The seven-day reproduction number is estimated at 1.09 by the Robert Koch Institute. It said the R-value should be interpreted with caution due to the low case numbers.

Dr. Reddy’s to Sell Remdesivir (5:40 p.m. HK)

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories entered into a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences, allowing it to manufacture and sell potential coronavirus treatment Remdesivir in 127 countries, including India.

Russian Cases Rise 1.7% (5 p.m. HK)

Russia reported 8,706 new confirmed infections, a 1.7% increase over the past day, according to data from the government’s virus response center. Deaths rose by 114 to 6,829. Moscow accounted for 17% of new cases, and 34% of all new cases were asymptomatic.

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