Florida's death toll reaches single-day high

Florida health officials on Thursday reported 8,935 new Covid-19 cases, according to data posted on the Florida Department of Health website. 

The state is also reporting at least 120 Covid-19-related deaths — a new single-day record for the state. The previous high was on April 28, when 83 new deaths were reported, according to CNN's tally. 

This brings the current total cases to more than 232,000, according the health department. There are now more than 4,000 Covid-19-related deaths in Florida.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, prepares to testify before a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on June 30 in Washington, DC.. Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP

The United States still has not gotten out of the first wave of Covid-19, the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said on SiriusXM radio.

"The thing that confuses people — not only in our own country but throughout the world — we have a very large country and it is very heterogenous. I mean, the New York metropolitan area is very, very different from Casper, Wyoming, or a town in Montana or a city in the Southwest," Fauci added. "So things happen at different paces and different things really evolve." 

Fauci went on to explain how the metropolitan area of New York City was hit badly early on the pandemic and is now doing well — with cases, hospitalizations and deaths going down — compared with other regions of the United States.

"I believe that they will be successful. What we're seeing now in some of the southern states that you really had kind of a variability in how it was handled. Some states actually decided to open up, but did it probably prematurely and not adhering to the guidelines of a gateway to phase one to phase two. Other states actually did it well, but the people in the state took an all or none attitude," Fauci said.

Doctors attend to a coronavirus patient in the intensive care unit at Ricardo Palma Hospital on July 7 in Lima, Peru. Rodrigo Abd/AP

The latest figures from several major Latin American states show that the rate of infection and deaths from the coronavirus are hitting new peaks.

A CNN analysis of figures from individual states and from WHO shows that Brazil, Mexico and Colombia are at or close to peak infection rates, when daily numbers are averaged over a week. (Averaging daily reports over seven days helps to establish trends and even out daily anomalies.)

Here's what the data shows:

Other Latin American countries are also showing little sign of being past the peak of infections and deaths, but both Uruguay and Paraguay continue to have very low infection rates.

However, Chile, which saw a spike in infections last month, has shown a consistent decline in its weekly averages of both deaths and new infections. CNN's tally of official statistics show that the average of new infections has fallen to 2,968 from 3,947 a day (in the week to July 8); deaths have fallen from 146 to 117 a day in the same period.

A TSA agent assists travelers at Love Field airport in Dallas, Texas, on June 24. Tony Gutierrez/AP

More than 1,000 Transportation Security Administration employees have now tested positive in the US for coronavirus, according to agency data released Thursday.  

That includes just over 900 frontline TSA officers who screen passengers at airports around the country.  

At least six TSA employees have died due to the virus, the agency said.  

Remember: The agency recently improved its protocols for screening officers, including requiring them to wear face shields and to change or clean gloves between each passenger they handle. The changes came about after a whistleblower complaint and are intended to better protect officers and prevent cross-contamination between passengers.  

TSA officers screened 2.7 million people over the Independence Day holiday weekend.  

Goldman Sachs says states containing over 40% of the population have now put reopening on hold, and states with another 30% have already reversed part of their reopening.   

The analysts also note that over the past few days, Connecticut, Ohio and Washington have delayed reopening plans or placed re-openings on hold. Goldman also notes that several state governors have also issued new executive order instituting specific social distancing and other requirements. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks as she arrives at the European Parliament on July 8 in Brussels, Belgium. Francisco Seco/AP

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that "lies and disinformation" have emerged during the coronavirus pandemic and warned against allowing hatred to spread as the world battles the virus.

She added the virus has highlighting the limits of ''fact-denying populism," saying, "The limits of populism and denial of basic truths are being laid bare."  

Merkel went on to say, to applause, ''democracies need truth and transparency. This is what Europe sets apart and this is what Germany will stand up for during its EU presidency."

She urged the European Union to agree on the bloc’s Covid-19 recovery plan before the summer. “There is no time to lose. Only the weakest will suffer,” Merkel said.  

Watch the moment:

John Raoux/AP

Two days before reopening two theme parks to the public during the height of a Florida coronavirus spike, Disney resumed the sale of new 2020 theme park tickets and hotel reservations for Walt Disney World. 

Guests who purchase new tickets are required to select the dates they would like to visit and reserve their attendance in advance.

Annual passholders and people who had purchased tickets before the parks closed in March were able to reserve attendance before today. 

Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom theme parks are currently holding annual passholder previews Thursday and Friday, and reopening to the public on Saturday at reduced capacity. 

The resort’s two remaining theme parks — EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios — will reopen next week.

Bulgaria is closing indoor nightclubs and will ban spectators at sports events due to the recent increase of coronavirus cases, the press office of the Health Ministry confirmed Thursday to CNN.

According to the order from the health minister, starting tomorrow, indoor discos, night clubs, piano bars and other similar venues will be closed to the public, the press office said.

Visits to outdoor discos, bars and pubs will be allowed but only with up to 50% of the total capacity. 

Outdoor and indoor group celebrations are not allowed with more than 30 people, including weddings.

All group and individual sporting events of training and competitive nature, for all age groups, outdoors and indoors, will be held without an audience, the order reads.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho speaks with CNN on July 9. CNN

Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said schools will not reopen at the end of August unless the county moves to phase two. 

“We need a phase two to be able to reopen schools,” he told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota. 

“We are in phase one and should we transition to phase two, then we have a plan to bring students back to school five days a week while offering other options to parents as well,” he added.

Carvalho said that, despite the state order for schools to reopen, he was encouraged that federal officials said that districts facing limitations will be able to implement different strategies.

The superintendent added that he thinks the state Department of Education will fight for federal resources that his schools require. 

"I think it would be quite unfair for children in Miami-Dade, 73% of whom live at or below the poverty level, a huge number of them are still English-language learners, who have been in crisis to begin with, to be deprived of the necessary resources," Carvalho said. 

Watch the interview: