India reports highest daily jump in new cases so far

A medic collects a sample from a patient for Covid-19 at Gardiner Hospital in Patna, India on July 15. Santosh Kumar/Hindustan Times/Getty Images

India reported 32,695 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the health ministry announced on Thursday -- the highest one-day jump in cases since the pandemic began.

The ministry also reported 606 new deaths from the virus. 

The new figures raise the national total to 968,876 infections, with 24,915 deaths. Of the total cases, more than 612,000 people have recovered.

More than 12.7 million samples have so far been tested for Covid-19 since the pandemic began, with over 326,00 samples tested Wednesday alone, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research.

U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan in Japan's southern island prefecture of Okinawa on June 22, 2020, a day before the 60th anniversary of the enforcement of the revised Japan-U.S. security treaty. (Photo by Kyodo News/Sipa USA) Kyodo News/Sipa USA

Two more coronavirus cases were confirmed at the US Marine Corps' Futenma base in Japan's Okinawa prefecture, Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki announced Thursday.

With the new cases, a total of 138 US military personnel and their families have so far been diagnosed with Covid-19 across six US military facilities in Japan since early July. 

A Japanese national in Okinawa has also tested positive for the virus -- the first local case reported since July 8th. The patient is a taxi driver who used to give rides to US military personnel in and off the bases, said Tamaki.

The governor called on Okinawa residents who have had close contact with US military personnel to get tested for the virus as soon as possible. 

Commuters wear face masks on a metro train in Hong Kong on July 15. Anthony Wa

Hong Kong is facing a "third wave" of coronavirus infections, which experts say is linked to the easing of social distancing measures -- and potentially a mutation which could make it more infectious.

For weeks, Hong Kong's case numbers have stayed low in the single digits every day -- even zero sometimes. People had just begun to let down their guard and resume daily activities, with businesses and public spaces reopening, when the third wave hit -- sending case numbers up to several dozen a day.

Eased restrictions: A high number of local cases don't have epidemiological links to other cases -- meaning "we don’t know how these particular cases have acquired the infection," said Professor Leo Poon, the head of the Division of Public Health Laboratory Science of the University of Hong Kong (HKU).

This suggests that the outbreak was caused by the easing of social distancing measures, Poon said.

The danger is especially high in restaurants when people take off their masks and risk cross-infection, said Ivan Hung, chief of HKU's Infectious Diseases Division.

The virus has mutated: The new mutation means that the virus now multiplies at a higher rate, said Gabriel Leung, Dean of Medicine faculty at the HKU, in an radio interview Sunday.

A previous study about the mutation found it’s more transmissible, but does not appear to make patients any sicker. 

We shouldn't panic: There's still a lot we don't know, said John Nicholls, a clinical professor in pathology at HKU.

For instance, we know the mutation has increased replication in cells by 30% -- but it doesn't necessarily mean the virus is 30% more transmissible. “We need to be cautious about this and do more sequencing to see if the virus in Hong Kong is this ‘mutated’ virus,” Nicholls told CNN.  

The United States reported 66,273 new coronavirus cases and 941 related deaths today, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

That raises the national total to 3,497,847 cases and 137,407 deaths.  

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC on June 30. Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The public battle between President Donald Trump's economic and medical advisers has commanded national attention all week, with attempts from the administration to discredit top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.

But Fauci, who has become the lead scientific face of the fight against the pandemic, said he doesn’t like conflict, and doesn’t “like to be pitted against the president.” 

“I’m an apolitical person,” Fauci told CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell in an interview published Wednesday on InStyle.com.

Attacks on Fauci: Unnamed staffers released so-called “opposition research” on the doctor to reporters on Monday, listing perceived errors in Fauci’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Then top white house trade adviser Peter Navarro openly attacked Fauci Tuesday in an op-ed in USA Today, claiming Fauci "has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on."

“It’s very stressful,” Fauci said in the wide-ranging and revealing interview that included his wife bioethicist Dr. Christine Grady.

Relationship with Trump: President Donald Trump has said he has “a very good” relationship with Fauci, who has not met with the president in more than a month.

Fauci, for the most part, agreed with that assessment. 

Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a press conference at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas on May 18. Lynda M. Gonzalez/Pool/Getty Images

Texas Governor Greg Abbott rejected any idea of reimposing shutdowns on Wednesday, even as coronavirus continues spreading rapidly across the Lone Star State.

This comes after the state reported its highest daily jump in new cases and deaths. Abbott pointed to recent comments by the CDC director saying the virus could get under control if everyone wore masks for four weeks. 

Abbott also pushed a message of adaptability, saying "we're only a few months away" from getting medical treatments and then a "few months after that" for vaccines. 

"This is a very short period of time," he said, arguing people will get to back to normal soon if they can push through the next several months. 

The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) will bring in nearly 600 critical care and medical-surgical nurses from out of state to help in Arizona hospitals, according to an ADHS press release.

Hospitals that need support with critical staffing may receive the nurses for free for up to six weeks from ADHS while they fill their gaps in staffing. Hospitals will be prioritized based on a variety of criteria. 

The release added that federal partners had already sent nearly 100 National Disaster Medical System personnel to Arizona on a two-week deployment at the request of state and local public health and hospitals.

Vendors prepare for the start of the morning retail shift at the Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, on July 14. Qilai Shen/Bloomberg/Getty Images

China's economy is growing again after its worst three-month period in decades -- a sign that could bode well for the global post-coronavirus recovery.

The world's second-largest economy grew 3.2% in the April-to-June period compared a year ago, according to government statistics released on Thursday. That's better than the 2.5% growth that analysts polled by Refinitiv were expecting.

It also means that China averted recession. In the first quarter, the $14 trillion economy shrank 6.8%, the worst plunge for a single quarter on record since China started publishing those figures in 1992. That was also the first time China reported an economic contraction since 1976.

The rebound had been widely expected by analysts. China -- the early epicenter of the outbreak and the first in the world to impose draconian measures to quell the virus -- was also the first major economy to reopen.

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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews briefs the media on conditions concerning the Covid-19 situation in Melbourne, Australia, on July 6. Andy Brownbill/AP

The Australian state of Victoria has suffered its worst day since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, with 317 new cases reported within 24 hours, said state officials on Thursday.

Two men in their 80s died due to Covid-19 in the past day, said Premier Daniel Andrews. That brings Victoria’s death toll to 29, and the national toll to 111.

Of the 317 new cases, only 28 were linked to known outbreaks. The remaining 289 cases are still under investigation. 

The number of coronavirus-related patients in Victoria hospitals has risen to 109, with 29 in ICU, Andrews said. 

Meanwhile, the neighboring state of New South Wales recorded 10 new Covid-19 cases, its Health Department announced Thursday. The NSW outbreak has been linked to the Victoria outbreak, with a man having traveled from Melbourne to Sydney in June, then meeting with friends at a pub in July.