Coronavirus 'extraordinarily widespread,' Birx warns

Deborah Birx speaks after a White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing on June 26, in Washington, DC. Joshua Roberts/Getty Images

Dr. Deborah Birx on Sunday said the US is in a new phase in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, saying that the deadly virus is more widespread than when it first took hold in the US earlier this year.

Birx stressed that Americans need to follow health recommendations, including wearing a mask and practicing social distancing.

"To everybody who lives in a rural area, you are not immune or protected from this virus," Birx said. "If you're in multi-generational households, and there's an outbreak in your rural area or in your city, you need to really consider wearing a mask at home, assuming that you're positive, if you have individuals in your households with comorbidities."

"This epidemic right now is different and it's more widespread and it's both rural and urban," she added.

A new ensemble forecast, published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, projects more than 173,000 American deaths by August 22, and former US Food and Drug Administrator Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned on CNBC last month that the coronavirus death toll could double to 300,000 deaths by the end of the year, if the country doesn't change its trajectory.

On Sunday, Birx would not give a projection of how many deaths the US would see by the end of year, but she said a death toll largely depends on southern and western states to maintain and accelerate their mitigation efforts. Those states have become hot spots for the virus.

"It's not super spreading individuals, it's super spreading events and we need to stop those. We definitely need to take more precautions," Birx told Bash.

Asked if it was time to reset the federal government response to the pandemic, Birx said, "I think the federal government reset about five to six weeks ago when we saw this starting to happen across the south."

Meanwhile, more than 4.6 million Americans have been infected and at least 154,859 have died from coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University data. California leads the country in total cases, followed by Florida and Texas.

Desks are spaced apart in an elementary school classroom on July 9 in Monterey Park, California. Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

Students are returning back to school in some parts of the US, and plans to keep the coronavirus out of schools are already showing some cracks. An Indiana junior high school student tested positive on the first day back, after attending class for part of the day. Another student in Mississippi tested positive after the first week of classes. 

And Georgia's largest school district confirmed that at least 260 employees have either tested positive for Covid-19 or have been exposed. 

School reopenings will have to be done carefully, Birx said, and areas that have reported a rise of infections should first stop cases before engaging in talks about welcome students back to class.

In late July, the CDC issued new guidelines that came down hard in favor of reopening schools. The guidelines said children don't suffer much from coronavirus but suffer from being out of school. The CDC recommended local officials consider closing schools or keeping them closed if there is substantial, uncontrolled transmission of the virus.

The guidelines also said children are less likely to spread the virus than adults — but new studies suggest children can contribute to its transmission.

In Miami-Dade County, dubbed by some experts as the country's epicenter, the superintendent announced Sunday students will continue virtual learning until at least October.

In areas where school hasn't started yet, leaders are still considering plans. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he'll make a decision later this week about whether schools in his state should plan to reopen. 

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson wears a face mask while visiting the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust headquarters on July 13 in London, England. Ben Stansall/WPA Pool/Getty Images

The UK's troubled response to the coronavirus pandemic became even more confused on Monday, as government guidance seemingly at odds with itself rolled out across England, pushing the four nations of the UK further apart.

From Monday, employers in England can ask staff to return to workplaces if they believe they are Covid-19 safe.

When the policy was announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson last month, he was accused of "passing the buck on this big decision to employers" by the UK's Trades Union Congress (TUC). The TUC criticized the government for announcing such a move while the country's widely-criticized test and trace infrastructure was "still patchy."

Also launching on Monday is an eye-catching government scheme, "Eat Out to Help Out," aimed at getting restaurants back on their feet as the UK's furlough scheme comes to an end. Throughout August, people dining out from Monday to Wednesday are to be offered a 50% discount -- limited to £10 ($13) per person -- and not including alcoholic drinks.

Both policies are part of a wider plan to get the UK's economy moving after months of lockdown kept many Brits stuck indoors and working from home while businesses in the hospitality industry that relied on their custom were forced to stop operating.

But these moves to soften coronavirus prevention measures, in order to restart the economy, come at the same time as cases are rising in Europe.

Last week, Johnson himself warned that "the risk is starting to bubble up again," on the continent, adding: "I'm afraid you are starting to see in some places the signs of a second wave of the pandemic."

In the UK several localized mini-lockdowns have been implemented, as fears of that second wave move from possible to probable.

These localized containment measures have created a particularly stark situation in areas like Manchester, where it is now against the rules to meet family members in a back garden, and yet absolutely fine, according to the rules, to go to a restaurant.

The move marks a significant shift towards prioritizing economic recovery ahead of other issues, including public health.

Read the full story here.

Thousands of demonstrators march down the street to protest against the current coronavirus restrictions on August 1 in Berlin, Germany. John Macdougall/AFP/Getty Images

Germany's government has heavily criticized this weekend’s protests against measures to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

“What we had to witness this weekend was not acceptable," government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said at a press conference in Berlin on Monday. "The actions of many of the protesters are not in any way justified,” she added.

On Saturday around 17,000 protesters gathered in the German capital calling for an end to government restrictions to stop the virus from further spreading, according to a count from Berlin’s police.

The protest, organized mostly by conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers, as well as far-right and far-left groups, saw heavy breaches of physical distancing and mask-wearing rules. Berlin police shut the protest down after several hours.

Researchers prepare mammalian cells to produce possible Covid-19 antibodies for testing in a laboratory in May in Indianapolis, Indiana. David Morrison/Eli Lilly/AP

Eli Lilly and Company said Monday it is moving into a Phase 3 clinical trial of its antibody treatment for Covid-19.

The Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant said that it plans to recruit 2,400 residents and staff at long-term care facilities for its trial.

Nursing home residents and staff are particularly vulnerable to severe forms of Covid-19. As of July 30, there have been nearly 63,000 deaths in long term care facilities, accounting for at least 44% of total deaths in 43 states, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. That percentage is very likely an undercount.

In June, Lilly became the first company in the US to start testing an antibody therapy in humans. LY-CoV555, as it’s called, was created by Lilly in cooperation with AbCellera, from an antibody first identified in a blood sample taken from one of the first US patients to recover from Covid-19.

With this trial, the company will work with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Covid-19 Prevention Network to administer the therapy to residents and staff at several long-term care facilities that have had a recently diagnosed case of Covid-19.

The hope is that this antibody therapy will provide protection, and possibly ease symptoms for those who do get infected.

What are antibodies? Antibodies are proteins the immune system makes naturally to provide the body protection from a virus or toxin. Unlike with a vaccine -- which stimulates the body to make these protective antibodies over a couple of weeks -- a therapy like this delivers a lab-made antibody that provides protection instantly.

The protection doesn’t last as long as a vaccine would, but if it works, it could be given as a protective treatment every few months.

More about the trial: This trial will determine if a single dose reduces the rate of infection through four weeks. It will also determine if it can reduce complications from Covid-19 for eight weeks.

To help with the trial, Lilly has created custom-made mobile research units to assist long term care facilities conduct these studies. These units will be sent to long-term care facilities throughout the country and will bring a lab, clinical trial supplies and specialized staff on-site, creating an on location infusion clinic.

Lilly has two other ongoing trials in the US with LY-CoV555. The company has finished dosing hospitalized patients in a Phase 1 study, but it continues to follow up with those patients. A Phase 2 study involving people who have been recently diagnosed with Covid-19 is ongoing.

The company says the treatment so far has been “well tolerated” by patients, and there have been no drug-related severe adverse events. How well these therapies work is still to be determined. 

People dine outdoors at a restaurant in Clapham, London, on August 2. Peter Summers/Getty Images

The UK has launched a half-price meal scheme, "Eat Out to Help Out," in an attempt to boost the restaurant and pub industry following the country's Covid-19 lockdown.

In August customers across the country will get up to 50% off on bills -- with a maximum discount of £10 ($13) per person -- when visiting participating restaurants, pubs and cafes Monday through Wednesday, the country's economic and finance ministry said in a statement Monday.

The half-price discount will run through August and applies to all food and non-alcoholic drinks consumed on the premises. The scheme is part of the £30 billion ($39bn) Chancellor’s Plan for Jobs and “aims to protect jobs in the hospitality sector – which has been hit hard by coronavirus,” the statement reads.

Last week, the UK government announced new restrictions in some areas of Northern England "to stop the spread of Covid-19" in response to an increasing number of cases.

People in parts of Greater Manchester, East Lancashire, and West Yorkshire are not allowed to meet people they do not live with with inside a private home or garden, (except where they have formed a support bubble) the government said, or socialize with people they do not live with in other indoor public venues, such as pubs, restaurants and cafes.

However, rules still allow people from these neighborhoods to attend these venues with people they live with, or are in a support bubble with.

People walk past a Men's Wearhouse store on July 21 in Chicago, Illinois. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Tailored Brands, the owner of Men Wearhouse and Jos A. Bank, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, becoming the latest US retail casualty of the pandemic.

Tailored Brands said in a statement that it voluntary filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday in the US Bankruptcy Court in Houston due to "the unprecedented impact of COVID-19." 

The company expects its four retail brands to continue to operate during the restructuring process, and said it has reached an agreement with lenders to reduce debt by $630 million.

This follows Tailored Brands decision on July 21 to eliminate about 20% of its corporate workforce and close up to 500 stores as it deals with a "challenging retail environment." 

Lord and Taylor also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday, according to court documents.

A medical professional collects a swab sample for a Covid-19 test on July 24 in Hong Kong. Anthony Kwan/Getty Images

Hong Kong confirmed 80 new cases of Covid-19 in the city on Monday -- the first time in nearly two weeks that cases have dropped below triple digits.

All cases are locally transmitted.

About 56 of the local cases are related to previous cases, while the source of infection of the other 24 is still under investigation.

Health officials warned that though the infections have gone down compared to the last two weeks, it is too early to call the decrease in numbers a trend. 

Two additional deaths were reported, bringing the death toll to 37 and total number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong to 3,590.

People walk towards a beach in Magaluf, on the Spanish island of Mallorca, on July 16. Jaime Reina/AFP/Getty Images

Spain received 204,926 international tourists in June 2020, 97.7% fewer than last year, a study from the Spanish National Institute of Statistics revealed on Monday.

The data also showed that the total spend of international tourists visiting Spain in June decreased 98.6% compared to the same month last year. In comparison to June 2019, the spend per tourist dropped 40.8% to $755 (€651) and the average duration of trips was reduced by one day to 5.7 days.

In June, 920,778 national and international travelers stayed in hotels or similar establishments in Spain, with a total of 1,820,455 overnight stays. Both figures represent less than 10% of the estimated totals for this period a year ago. Four-star hotels are the most visited, followed by three-star establishments.

Virus threatens tourism: Spain's tourism industry has suffered setbacks due to the pandemic. In July, the UK government unexpectedly announced that all people returning from Spain would be required to self-isolate for two weeks due to an increase in coronavirus cases, reversing its previous stance.

Norway also imposed a mandatory 10-day quarantine for all travelers returning from Spain following the spike in coronavirus cases, and French Prime Minister Jean Castex has previously advised French people against traveling to Catalonia.

According to Statista, which provides data on the global digital economy, Spain is one of the countries most vulnerable to Covid-19's impact on tourism, with travel and tourism contributing 14.3% to Spain's GDP last year.