Pence Delays Campaign Events; U.S. Cases Jump 1.9%: Virus Update

(Bloomberg) --

Miami will close its popular beaches for the July 4 holiday weekend to stem the spread of Covid-19 as southern U.S. states wrestle with the coronavirus. Florida and Arizona said new cases climbed the most for one day, while U.S. cases rose the most since May 15.

Vice President Mike Pence postponed Trump re-election rallies next week in two hard-hit states, though meetings with governors and health officials remain on his schedule.

New York is investigating an outbreak tied to a traveler from Florida who went to a graduation ceremony then tested positive. Brazil is in a deal with the U.K. to locally make a vaccine developed by Oxford University.

Key Developments:

• Global Tracker: Cases top 9.8 million; deaths pass 495,000
• Second-generation vaccines are built for impact over speed
• What a century of disease outbreaks teaches us about Covid-19
• Virus fatality picture obscured by ultimate lagging indicator
• U.S.-EU discord imperils rebound in prime transatlantic flights
• Germany’s billionaire ‘sausage king’ faces virus reckoning

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.

Pence Postpones Rallies in Arizona, Florida (4:40 p.m.)

Vice President Mike Pence has postponed Trump re-election events in Arizona and Florida next week as coronavirus cases surge in those states. Pence, who heads the White House coronavirus task force, still plans to meet with governors and health-care teams in both states as well as Texas, a senior campaign official said.

Texas Cases Increase in Line With Average (4:05 p.m.)

Texas reported new cases rose in line with the 4.2% rate of the previous seven days, ending four days of above-average increases. The state, which on Friday closed bars and imposed limits on restaurants as cases spiked, recorded 5,747 new infections, raising the total to 143,731. Deaths climbed by 42, to 2,366.

U.S. Cases Rise the Most Since May 15 (4 p.m. NY)

Coronavirus cases in the U.S. increased by 45,450 from the same time Friday, to 2.49 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. It was the biggest percentage jump since May 15. The 1.9% increase was above the average daily rise of 1.5% over the past week.

Fatalities rose 0.5% to 125,340.

• New York reported 703 new cases, a 0.2% increase, for a total of 391,923, with 13 new deaths, raising the toll to 24,830.
• New Jersey had 347 cases, a 0.2% rise, pushing the total to 170,873, with 36 deaths for a toll of 13,094.
• California cases rose 5,972, or 3% to 206,433, with 60 new deaths raising the total to 5,872.
• Michigan reported 314 new cases, a 0.5% rise, bringing the total to 63,009, with 19 deaths for a total of 5,907.

Brazil in U.K. Vaccine Deal (3:30 p.m. NY)

Brazil reached a deal with the U.K. to locally produce the Covid-19 vaccine that’s been developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca Plc. Brazil will spend $287 million to buy doses and ingredients to make as many as 100 million shots, Health Ministry Executive Secretary Elcio Franco said at a press conference in Brasilia.

The first order, regardless of the final results of the vaccine clinical trials, will cost Brazil $127 million, Franco said. That will include 30.4 million doses delivered in December and January, as well as the technology transfer. Brazil has second-highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths worldwide.

Miami-Dade’s Covid-19 Patients Fall (2:20 p.m. NY)

Miami-Dade County reported 917 patients with Covid-19 admitted to hospitals, a decline of 77 from a day earlier.

The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive-care unit beds rose to 197 from 195, according to a report from the county, which is Florida’s most populous. The number of Covid-19 patients on ventilators fell to 84 from 85 a day earlier.

The county noted the latest report didn’t include hospitalizations from two facilities that reported more than 100 admissions on Friday, suggesting the apparent drop could be due to a distortion.

N.Y. Reports Cluster at Graduation Ceremony (2 p.m. NY)

New York is investigating potential Covid-19 exposure in Westchester County after an individual recently in Florida attended a high school graduation ceremony then tested positive. Since then, four people at the event tested positive and are in self-isolation, the state said.

The state Health Department urged anyone at the Horace Greeley High School drive-in graduation ceremony June 20 at Chappaqua Train Station to get tested. Florida has reported record new cases for two days in a row.

“The pandemic is far from over and we need to stay vigilant,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said. “We’re prepared to do the aggressive testing and contact tracing required to slow and ultimately control any potential clusters of new cases like the one in Westchester County.”

Greece Sets Entry Requirement (1:40 p.m. NY)

Greece will require all arriving international travelers to fill in a passenger location form at least 48 hours before check-in, the Civil Aviation Authority said Saturday. The requirement is being introduced ahead of the resumption of inbound flights to all Greek airports starting Wednesday. The measure is in effect until Aug. 31 and is part of efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the Authority said.

Ireland’s Cases Most in 2 Weeks (1:30 p.m. NY)

Ireland reported the most new cases since June 13, amid increasing worries about the virus spreading to younger people. 10 of the new cases are people under age 35, the health ministry said in a statement, while a further eight are between 35 and 54.

“This is now a real concern and a worrying trend,” chief medical officer Tony Holohan said. Some recent cases have had “large numbers of close contacts,” he added. Overall, Ireland has 25,437 cases and 1,734 deaths.

Texas Town Imposes Covid Curfew (1 p.m. NY)

After a month of protest-related curfews, a town outside of Houston is imposing a curfew starting Saturday to stem the rapidly rising number of Covid-19 cases. The curfew in Galena Park will run from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., Mayor Esmeralda Moya tweeted.

“It is crucial to continue to practice good hygiene, stay home as much as possible, avoid unnecessary trips, gatherings, and wear a face-covering at all times when you leave your home,” Moya said in a statement reported by KHOU-TV. The town has 10,000 residents.

Peru to Ease Quarantine Measures (12:50 p.m. NY)

Peru will lift quarantine measures for most of the country starting Wednesday, easing one of the world’s strictest lockdowns as it faces a severe economic slide. The state of emergency will remain in effect until July 31, according to a government decree late Friday.

Children and the elderly continue to face restrictions and borders will remain closed. Severe lockdown measures imposed in mid-March included soldiers on the streets to enforce stay-at-home measures.

But the virus spread, leaving Peru with the almost 9,000 deaths and more than 272,000 cases as of Friday, highest caseload in Latin America after Brazil and the sixth-highest in the world. The International Monetary Fund forecasts the economy will contract 13.9% this year, the steepest drop among major economies in the region.

Italy Cases Cross 240,000 (12:30 p.m. NY)

Italy registered 175 new cases on Saturday, down from 259 on Friday, the health ministry said. The agency reported eight deaths in the past 24 hours, compared with 30 on Friday, leaving total fatalities at 34,716. Total infections reached 240,136.

Lombardy, the hard-hit recgion that includes Milan, reported 77 cases, or 44% of the new national cases.

Arizona Cases Rise by a Record (11:40 a.m. NY)

Arizona’s new cases increased by a record 3,591 to 70,051, a 5.4% jump that matched the rate of change on Friday, the state reported Friday.

The number of deaths rose by 44 to 1,579.

Florida Cases Jump 7.8% (10:55 a.m. NY)

Florida reported 132,545 cases on Saturday, up 7.8% from a day earlier, compared with an average increase of 4.6% in the previous seven days. Deaths reached 3,390, an increase of 0.7%, according to the report, which includes data through Friday.

The state reported 9,585 new cases, a record for one day.

New York Reports 13 Deaths (9:46 a.m. NY)

Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state had just 13 deaths in the past 24 hours and 703, or less than 1%, of 73,262 tests conducted were positive.

“Today’s numbers show a continued, steady decline in our hospitalization and death rates, and proves that a response based on science, not politics, is the only way to defeat this virus,” Cuomo said in a statement. “While this is good news, New Yorkers cannot become complacent.”

Golfer Seeks Test During Tourney (9:45 a.m. NY)

Jason Day asked to be tested for Covid-19 just before the third round of the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut, where several players have already withdrawn, the Associated Press reported. Officials have decided to have him play as a single Saturday as a precautionary measure.

Two more golfers withdrew because of the coronavirus Friday -- Denny McCarthy for a positive test, and Bud Cauley, who tested negative but decided to pull out after playing alongside McCarthy on Thursday.

India Has More Than 500,000 Cases (9:30 a.m. NY)

India became the fourth country with more than half a million cases after the U.S., Brazil and Russia. Infections increased 3.8%, in line with the past week, to 508,953 with 15,685 deaths.

The country today extended the deadline for the submission of expressions of interest for investment in national carrier Air India Ltd. to Aug. 31 due to the Covid-19 situation. This is the seventh time the deadline has been extended since January.

Portugal Reports Smaller Increase in New Virus Cases (9:06 a.m. NY)

Portugal reported 323 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, down from 451 on Friday, taking the total to 41,189, the government said. Daily new cases have ranged between 192 and 451 in June. The additional cases are mostly in the greater Lisbon region, where authorities have tightened restrictions in 19 parishes and increased testing after new clusters were identified.

Iran Infections Rise 1.13% (8:08 a.m. NY)

The number of Covid-19 cases in Iran rose by 2,456 to more than 220,000 on Saturday. The increase of 1.13% is the smallest in percentage terms since May 3.

Iran remains the Middle East’s worst-hit nation by the virus with at least 2,000 new cases every day over the past month. Fatalities reached 10,364 as 125 people died from the virus overnight.

Elsewhere in the region, Iraq had a 5% daily increase to a total of 43,262. In Saudi Arabia, infections rose 2.2% to 178,504.

Roche Ramping Up Antibody Test Production (6:56 a.m. NY)

Roche Holding AG will increase production of antibody tests as it struggles to meet demand, its chairman said in an interview with a Swiss newspaper. “Demand exceeds our production,” Roche Chairman Christoph Franz told Tages Anzeiger.

Virus Found in Spanish Wastewater in March 2019 (6 a.m. NY)

A Spanish study found evidence of coronavirus in Barcelona wastewater 10 months before the Spanish government reported its first infection. The research, which hasn’t been scientifically reviewed by peers, is based on a finding from water collected March 12, 2019, and frozen for later testing. This indicates “that the infection was present in the population before the first imported case was reported,” according to the study, whose authors include Rosa Pinto, a microbiology professor at the University of Barcelona. Samples taken in the rest of 2019 resulted negative.

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