Pence: There will be a vaccine 'before the end of this year'

As the US surpasses 174,000 deaths due to coronavirus, Vice President Mike Pence said, “We mourn with those who mourn.”

The US is now averaging 1,000 coronavirus deaths a day. When CNN's John Berman asked Pence about the death toll, he said:

Despite seeing significant surges in cases and deaths all across the country through the year so far, the Vice President emphasized that President Trump’s decision in January to suspend all travel from China has bought time for the US to work on a vaccine.

Since January, the US has recorded over 5 million cases.

Pence went on to criticize the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for his critique of President Trump.

“While we grieve with those who lost loved one, had we not stood up the response as Joe Biden wanted us to do, we would have lost hundreds of thousands of more Americans.”

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Vice President Mike Pence said this morning that he believes the US will have a coronavirus vaccine before the end of 2020.

Pence added: "But we're also not waiting on that. We're actually manufacturing millions of doses of a vaccine so the moment the FDA says it's safe and effective, we'll be able to distribute it to the American people."

Some background: President Trump has suggested that a vaccine for the coronavirus could be ready before Election Day this year. And while It's possible that a vaccine could be approved by the Food and Drug Administration at some point in November, there is obviously no firm timeline or guarantee that one will be.

And even when one is approved, it will likely still be many months before it's widely available across the US. In interviews last month, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infections disease expert, made clear that while a vaccine could be approved by or possibly before November, it would likely not be available widely until "several months" into 2021.

Alyannah Buhman says living with diabetes during a pandemic presents major challenges. Courtesy Alyannah Buhman

As 19-year-old Alyannah Buhman begins her junior year of pre-law studies at Iowa State University, she has ambitions of a career in civil rights law.

She is inspired by her grandfather, a police officer, and by growing up biracial in a small town in which there were only a few Black people.

But living with diabetes during a pandemic presents major challenges to those dreams, most of which aren't immediately obvious.

"If you look at me you'd think I was perfectly normal, until you saw a little device sticking out," she said.

That device checks her blood sugar every few minutes, buzzing if it's too high or too low, and houses a pump that can kick in to deliver insulin. Infections can easily disrupt that delicate balance, throwing her glucose into wild fluctuations.

The threat of coronavirus has left her "very on edge," she said.

As college students move into dorms, apartments and fraternity or sorority houses for the fall semester, Buhman is one of countless young Americans with chronic conditions now shouldering the risk of campus life in order to pursue their dreams.

These young people are funny, energetic, ambitious and generous, with illness giving them more wisdom than their years merit.

With weakened immune systems, they want people to know that Covid-19 won't just simply pass through them, presenting with only mild symptoms. It could severely hobble or kill them.

These high-risk individuals are taking precautions, and they hope you will, too.

Because their lives depend on it.

Read the full story here.

Dara Calleary, Ireland's Minister for Agriculture, is pictured arriving at Dublin Castle for a cabinet meeting on July 21. Niall Carson/PA Images/Getty Images

Dara Calleary, Ireland’s Minister for agriculture, food and the marine, resigned on Friday amid a breach of Covid-19 restrictions, after he attended a golf dinner with 80 other people on Wednesday.

“His attendance at this event was wrong and an error of judgement on his part,” Irish leader Micheál Martin said in a statement. “People all over the country have made very difficult, personal sacrifices in their family lives and in their businesses to comply with Covid regulations."

Ireland has significantly tightened key restrictions this week after a spike in cases.

Calleary apologized in a series of tweets on Thursday, expressing “sincere regret” to his government colleagues.

In an interview with Newstalk radio station earlier that day, Calleary had urged Irish people to reduce their social contacts, insisting on the fact that “everyone had a role to play in this.”

Several other Irish politicians who attended the dinner were facing mounting pressure to resign amid public uproar on Friday. 

Healthcare professionals work to test travelers for Covid-19 at Malpensa Airport in Somma Lombardo, Italy, on August 20. Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images

More than 794,000 people have died from coronavirus and there have been 22.7 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 worldwide.

In Europe -- where Italy was the first Covid-19 epicenter outside China -- authorities are battling to keep further waves of the pandemic at bay, but the case numbers are ticking up across the continent.

Here’s the latest:

Spain: The novel coronavirus epidemic is “out of control” in parts of Spain, according to the director of the country's Center for Health Emergencies. “Currently the epidemic is not out of control at a national level, but it is in some concrete places,” Fernando Simon said Thursday. Simon’s remarks came after Spain reported 7,039 new cases, 3,349 in the previous 24 hours. Madrid and Catalonia account for the majority of new infections, but Andalucía, Castilla y Leon and Aragon have also seen sharp increases.

Ireland: Dara Calleary, Ireland’s Minister for agriculture, food and the marine, resigned on Friday amid a breach of Covid-19 restrictions, after he attended a golf dinner with 80 other people on Wednesday. In a radio interview this week, Calleary had urged Irish people to reduce their social contacts, insisting on the fact that “everyone had a role to play in this.” Ireland significantly tightened key restrictions this week after a spike in cases.

France: French authorities reported 4,711 new cases on Thursday, the highest daily increase since April 15. The country has seen a consistent increase in the number of new cases as restrictions were lifted and is currently reporting 46.3 new cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days.

Italy: The country has reported a sharp rise in infections, reporting 845 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, 203 more than Wednesday, according to the latest health report. This is the highest daily increase since May 16. Despite the sharp increase, Italy’s numbers remain low compared to other European countries. According to the European Center for Disease Control, Italy has only seen 10.7 cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days.

Croatia: A recent spike in cases has seen Croatia removed from the UK’s quarantine exemption’s list on Thursday. The country reported 255 new cases in the past 24 hours, health authorities in Croatia announced Thursday. According to the European Center for Disease Control that accounts for 41.7 cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days. Earlier this week Croatia was week red-listed, by Slovenia, its second largest tourist nationality, and Austria.

Poland: The country has recorded 903 new cases, its highest daily increase since the beginning of the outbreak according to a Polish Ministry for Health communications officer. 168 cases came from the Silesia mining region whereas 156 cases and 146 were respectively recorded in the Malopolska and Mazovia regions. The numbers in Poland have been rising since August 4 when the country recorded 680 cases.

Europe's travel windows are slamming shut: Just weeks after many countries opened their borders to travelers within the continent, some are closing again, seemingly undermining efforts to salvage the continent's vital summer tourism economy.

El Viejo Buzón" (The Old Mailbox) café is pictured in downtown Buenos Aires. CNN

It's a rather unusual sight. Felipe Evangelista is sitting down at the café he has owned for nearly four decades and all he can see are upside-down chairs stored atop empty tables.

"El Viejo Buzón" (The Old Mailbox) had been a very popular café in downtown Buenos Aires and a hanging spot for generations of Argentinians, common folk and celebrities alike, since it was founded 37 years ago. It's the kind of old-style, corner café that is never empty. That was the case until March 20 when the coronavirus pandemic hit Argentina and the country shut down.

"It's an unusual situation because the blinds are closed and the tables empty when the main thing about a place like this is people," Evangelista said.

A normally boisterous establishment, the Old Mailbox is now mostly quiet -- hanging on, hoping against hope it can survive. When CNN visited, the only sound to be heard was a coffee machine for the meager takeout business operated by the only employee around, one of eight in total. Evangelista says he has managed to avoid layoffs thanks to a government credit program that's set to expire on September 20.

For Santiago Olivera, it's already too late. The restaurateur had to shut down three establishments -- two bars, "Bad Toro" and "Sheldon," and "Clara," a cafeteria -- in the upscale Palermo district of the capital, laying off more than 60 people.

"We started accumulating debt since March that resulted from paying salaries and rents without generating any revenue. I had to take loans from banks. We accumulated more debt month after month from taxes, utilities and rents," Olivera told CNN.

They are among the hundreds of cafés, bars and restaurants in Buenos Aires that have been forced to close due to the coronavirus pandemic. Their demise is a troubling new chapter for Argentina's battered economy, which was roiled by runaway inflation and stagnant growth even before Covid-19 slammed the door on businesses.

Read the full story.

Fernando Simon holds a press conference about the pandemic at the Ministry of Health in Madrid, Spain, on August 20. Oscar Gonzalez/NurPhoto/Getty Images

The novel coronavirus epidemic is “out of control” in parts of Spain, according to the director of the country's Center for Health Emergencies.

“Currently the epidemic is not out of control at a national level, but it is in some concrete places.”

Simon’s remarks came after Spain reported 7,039 new cases, 3,349 in the previous 24 hours. Madrid and Catalonia account for the majority of new infections, but Andalucía, Castilla y Leon and Aragon have also seen sharp increases.

“It’s true that the characteristics of the cases are different, it’s true that hospitalizations and the data from the pressure on the [health] system are different, but we are having an important transmission,” Simon added.

Spain currently has the highest infection rate of any country in Europe according to the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC).

According to the ECDC, Spain has a 14-day cumulative number of Covid-19 cases of 138.7 per 100,000 people.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and other government officials arrive for a press conference at government HQ on August 21, to provide details on the citywide testing initiative. Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images

Voluntary mass testing of citizens for coronavirus will begin in Hong Kong on September 1, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Friday. Tests will be free of charge.

Any Hong Kong citizens with no symptoms -- except children under the age of six and people with bad throat or nasal conditions -- can join the testing program, secretary for the civil service Patrick Nip said. The testing will last for seven days, and the government will review and announce whether to extend for another seven days.

Community testing centers will be set up across 18 districts to collect samples, Nip explained. Citizens will have to register online before getting tested.

Lam added that China’s central government helped in launching the mass testing program. “Without the help from the Central government for the extra laboratory and assistants, HK gov may not launch this mass testing program,” she said.

Hong Kong confirmed 27 new cases of Covid-19 in the city on Friday, bringing its total number of confirmed cases to 4,631.

Brazil's congress voted for mandatory mask wearing in closed spaces, such as commercial establishments, offices, schools and places of worship, overturning President Jair Bolsonaro's previous veto.

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