Health and Science

Coronavirus updates: Italy reports lowest daily death toll, UK outlines 'conditional' plan to slowly reopen

States are reopening, but is it safe or smart?
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States are reopening, but is it safe or smart?

The coverage on this live blog has ended — but for up-to-the-minute coverage on the coronavirus, visit the live blog from CNBC's Asia-Pacific team.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined a "conditional" plan to reopen his country's economy, but said there would be no immediate end to lockdown in Britain. Italy reported 165 new deaths from Covid-19, the lowest daily death toll since March 9, the Civil Protection Agency said.

Frustrated by local authorities holding up the reopening of Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, Elon Musk said this weekend that his company will "move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately." The disagreement over safety, commerce and public health between Tesla and California is playing out across the U.S. as states continue to relax stay-at-home orders and reopen businesses.

  • Global cases: More than 4 million
  • Global deaths:  More than 280,000
  • U.S. cases: More than 1.3 million
  • U.S. deaths: More than 80,000

The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

6:30 pm: VP Pence to distance himself for next couple of days

Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a news conference in the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, April 23, 2020.
Michael Reynolds | EPA | Bloomberg via Getty Images

Vice President Mike Pence will distance himself for the next couple of days after one of his aides tested positive for coronavirus, a senior official told NBC News.

The precautions don't amount to self-isolation because there are no restrictions on his schedule, the official said.

"Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine," said Devin O'Malley, the vice president's spokesman. "Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow." —Riya Bhattacharjee, Spencer Kimball

5:30 pm: Coronavirus tracing for workplaces could become a new opportunity for tech

PwC

Digital contact tracing could become a multi-billion dollar market, according to some estimates, as technology companies enter this new field to build everything from wearables to apps to track and stop coronavirus from spreading in the workplace.

"Looking at larger organizations that would probably be more apt to institute something like this, like organizations that employ over 1000 people, and if I take a percentage of those that don't opt in, even with all of those assumptions, I'm still looking at like a $4.3 billion potential market for this," said Laura Becker, an analyst covering employee experience and benefits for IDC. 

Apple and Google, among nonprofit groups, are creating software for contact tracing, too, but their system is targeted at the public. —Riya Bhattacharjee, Kif Leswing

4:30 pm: US is risking a second coronavirus wave and a depression, economist Mark Zandi warns

'If we get a second wave, it will be a depression,' economist Mark Zandi says
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'If we get a second wave, it will be a depression,' economist Mark Zandi says

3:30 pm: Tesla outlines plan to bring employees back to work

Robots work on a Tesla Model X in the Tesla factory in Fremont, California in 2018.
Mason Trinca | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Tesla has released a plan to bring its employees back to work amid an escalating dispute with local health authorities in California over a shelter-in-place order that has kept the automaker's Fremont factory idle during the coronavirus pandemic. 

A response team that includes a physician is establishing health and safety guidelines based on location and job-specific risk assessments, the company said.

Tesla argues that the Fremont factory falls under California Gov. Gavin Newsom's essential workforce guidelines and should resume production since it is critical national infrastructure. – Emma Newburger

3:15 pm: The struggles America's disabled are facing during coronavirus pandemic

Hundreds of people in cars arrive on the first day of a free COVID-19 antibody testing event at a site in Florida. Americans with disabilities, including blindness, are struggling to access testing and other health-care services during the coronavirus crisis.
Paul Hennessy | Echoes WIre | Barcroft Media via Getty Images

Millions of Americans who suffer from hearing and vision loss claim measures for the disabled, with regard to public health emergency response planning, have been less than adequate in the Covid-19 crisis. Many in this community are struggling to access critical health-care services, including Covid-19 testing. The CDC and WHO are trying to make information available to the disabled. However, disability advocates say gaps remain. —Alyssa Jackson

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2:30 pm: UK's Boris Johnson outlines 'conditional' plan to slowly reopen

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson giving a statement in Downing Street in central London on April 27, 2020 after returning to work following more than three weeks off after being hospitalized with the Covid-19 illness.
DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson took the first steps to ease some strict coronavirus lockdown measures and slowly begin to reopen the country's economy.

Johnson said that citizens who cannot work from home should be "actively encouraged" to go to work from Monday, but avoid using public transport if possible. People will also be allowed to take unlimited amounts of exercise.

"We now need to stress that anyone who can't work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work," Johnson said.

Johnson earlier tweeted that the government guidance had changed from "stay at home" to "stay alert." The instructions include "stay at home as much as possible," "limit contact with other people" and "keep your distance if you go out."

"This is not the time simply to end the lockdown this week," Johnson said in a televised address. "Instead we are taking the first careful steps to modify our measures." —Riya Bhattacharjee, Matt Clinch

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2:15 pm: Mnuchin says jobless numbers will 'get worse before they get better' 

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, at the White House on March 25, 2020, in Washington, DC.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the U.S. unemployment rate may have already soared to 25% and warned that the country could see "permanent economic damage" if the country does not reopen.

The reported numbers are probably going to get worse before they get better," Mnuchin told Chris Wallace during an interview on "Fox News Sunday," adding that "next year is going to be a great year." In just over a month, the coronavirus has erased all job gains since the Great Recession, bringing the nation's decade-long economic growth streak to a grinding halt. —Amanda Macias

2 pm: New York coronavirus hospitalizations fall to March levels, Cuomo says

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo shows a face mask at a daily briefing at North Shore University Hospital, during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Manhasset, New York, U.S., May 6, 2020.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

New York's daily Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths are starting to return to where they were when the state closed nonessential businesses in March, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday.  

Cuomo said at a press briefing that there were 521 hospitalizations and 207 deaths the prior day. The hospitalization figure returns New York "back to where we were when we started this hellish journey," Cuomo said.

Deaths remain "still terribly high, but better," he said. "All of this work, all of this progress of turning that tide, of reducing the rate of infection, that's all thanks to New Yorkers and what New Yorkers did," Cuomo said. —Tucker Higgins

1:40 pm: San Francisco Covid-19 response may be guided by 1980s HIV experience

Molly Cooke and Paul Volberding
Source: Molly Cooke and Paul Volberding

The Covid-19 outbreak is bringing back memories for San Francisco's medical community who found themselves in the frontlines of the HIV epidemic back in the 1980s, CNBC's Christina Farr reports. The city was praised for its response back then, and is being praised for its early response to the coronavirus pandemic now.

"Going through this pandemic brings up visceral, emotional memories of HIV," said longtime San Francisco resident Barbara Welles Seegal. "Many of us lost loved ones and I lost a number of good friends. It never really goes away."

Dr. Molly Cooke and Dr. Paul Volberding praised the fact that San Francisco took patient privacy seriously during the HIV epidemic. "Those of us in the epidemic were really sensitive about that," said Dr. Cooke. "It was almost to a fault. Looking back, we could have worked with public health more." —Riya Bhattacharjee, Christina Farr

1:10 pm: Breakthroughs in UV light technology could help stop the spread of coronavirus

12:57 pm: Casino shutdown costing tribes millions

When Washington state closed casinos as part of its pandemic response, the Kalispel Tribe essentially lost its economy, the Associated Press reported.

About 500 casinos run by tribes have closed during the pandemic, a move that often shut down the communities' main source of income, according to the AP.

The federal government authorized $8 billion for tribes as part of a coronavirus relief package in March, but the money is slow to get out, which has increased financial pressure on reservations.

"We can't fund any programs without the casino," Phil Haugen, chief operating officer of the Kalispel Tribal Economic Authority, told the AP.

The Kalispel Tribe's Northern Quest Casino closed for about two months, costing the tribe millions of dollars, but reopened Tuesday, the AP reported. The casino is limiting the number of customers, frequently cleaning, and is operating fewer slot machines and chairs at table games to keep social distancing procedures in place. —Chris Eudaily

12:32 pm: Italy reports lowest daily death toll, number of new cases since early March

NAPLES, CAMPANIA, ITALY - 2020/05/10: Volunteers prepare packages of basic necessities, with primary products for poor people in the popular neighborhoods of Naples city. Organized by the association "SAN GENNARO" in the Sanità neighborhoods. (Photo by Salvatore Laporta/KONTROLAB/LightRocket via Getty Images)
KONTROLAB

Italy reported 165 new deaths from Covid-19, the lowest daily death toll since March 9, the Civil Protection Agency said, according to Reuters.

New cases fell to 802 and were under 1,000 for the first time since early March, according to Reuters.

The agency now reports 30,560 dead from coronavirus since the outbreak came to light and 219,070 total infections, according to Reuters. —Chris Eudaily

11:52 am: Schumer questions VA about use of Trump-promoted malaria drug on vets

Bottles of Prasco Laboratories Hydroxychloroquine Sulphate are arranged for a photograph in the Queens borough of New York, U.S., on Tuesday, April 7, 2020.
Christopher Occhicone | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said the Department of Veterans Affairs may have put coronavirus patients at unnecessary risk by allowing the use of hydroxychloroquine, an unproven drug, on veterans, the Associated Press reported.

Schumer is asking for additional information from the VA about an order for $208,000 worth of the drug, which President Donald Trump has heavily promoted, without evidence, as a treatment for Covid-19, according to the AP.

"There are concerns that they are using this drug when the medical evidence says it doesn't help and could hurt," Schumer told the AP.

Former Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority Rick Bright, who was removed from his post in April and has filed a whistleblower complaint, alleged that the Trump administration wanted to "flood" hot spots in New York and New Jersey with the unproven drug, the AP reported. —Chris Eudaily

11:15 am: The pandemic has rocked the travel industry

A Delta Air Lines Inc. employee cleans a counter at the check area at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Thursday, April 2, 2020.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A road trip may never be the same.

A recent study found that 82% of travelers polled changed travel plans for the next six months, but the lasting effects on the travel industry will likely stretch well into the future.

"Tourism recovery typically begins locally," Elizabeth Monahan, spokeswoman for TripAdvisor.com, told CNBC's Kenneth Kiesnoski. "Travelers tend to first venture out closer to home, and visit their local eateries, stay local for a weekend getaway or travel domestically before a robust demand for international travel returns."

How will a typical family vacation change once travel and tourism begin again post-pandemic? Travelers are likely to prefer domestic destinations that you can reach by car and stays at private rentals instead of hotels and resorts. —Chris Eudaily

10:42 am: States prepare to hold fall elections amid the pandemic

A sign reminds voters in Baltimore to practice social distancing. Tuesday, April 28, 2020.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images

Though the 2020 presidential election is months away, states are preparing for the pandemic to change the way they run polling locations and voting operations. 

State voting officials told CNBC's Yelena Dzhanova they are preparing for elections with social distancing guidelines still in effect. 

States like North Carolina, Hawaii, Delaware and Alabama are planning to step up cleaning at poll centers. Other states are anticipating how to run polling centers if older workers and other volunteers who fear exposure do not show up to work.

Multiple states have already moved to expand voting by mail, and other states are looking at ways to make in-person voting safer. —Chris Eudaily

10:23 am: US unemployment could reach 20%, White House advisor says

Here are the states with the most jobless claims
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Here are the states with the most jobless claims

White House advisor Kevin Hassett told CNN's Jake Tapper that the U.S. unemployment rate could soar up to 20% as the coronavirus pandemic brings the country's decade-long economic growth streak to an abrupt halt.

"This is the biggest negative shock to an economy that we have ever seen in our lifetimes. It hit an economy that in January was about the strongest economy we'd ever seen," explained Hassett on "State of the Union."

"The fact, though, is with all of the aggressive bipartisan action to toss maybe as much as $9 trillion at this sort of bridge to the other side, we see things like the jobs report on Friday — almost everybody who declared themselves unemployed said they expect to go back to work in six months," he added.

The U.S. economy lost an unprecedented 20.5 million jobs in April as the unemployment rate soared to 14.7%, up from 4.4% in March, according to the monthly employment report, released Friday by the Department of Labor. —Amanda Macias

10:14 am: Kudlow says White House in talks with Congress about more coronavirus relief

White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said that the Trump administration is in informal talks with U.S. lawmakers from both parties about the next coronavirus relief package. 

The White House has paused formal negotiations with Congress until late May or early June as it waits for more information about how state re-openings and the previous round of relief impact the economy. 

Senate Democrats and Republicans have a conference call scheduled on Monday with Kudlow and White House economic adivsor Kevin Hassett to discuss next steps. Kudlow and Hassett held a conference call with 50 members of the House on Friday to discuss the coronavirus response.  —Emma Newburger

9:55 am: China responds to 'lies' from US politicians

Chinese President Xi Jinping, waves to residents who are quarantined at home and sends regards to them at a community in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, March 10, 2020.
Pang Xinglei | Xinhua via Getty

The Chinese foreign ministry rejected "preposterous allegations" by U.S. politicians that China withheld information about Covid-19, including the origins of the virus, Reuters reported.

In a 30-page, 11,000-word article posted on the ministry website, China refuted U.S. accusations that the virus was created or leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, according to Reuters. The ministry said evidence shows Covid-19 is not man-made and that the institute could not synthesize a new coronavirus.

Challenging accusations that the country was slow to sound the alarm to the international community, the ministry said China provided information in a "timely," "open and transparent" manner, Reuters reported.

The ministry article also responded to criticism of China's handling of the 34-year-old doctor who tried to raise the alarm over the outbreak in Wuhan, Li Wenliang, who later died from the virus.

The ministry said Li was not a "whistleblower" and he was never arrested, Reuters reported. —Chris Eudaily

9:12 am: US set to reach Trump's 100,000 ventilator goal in July, while demand for the breathing devices has decreased

Donald Trump looks at an assembly line during a tour of Honeywell's facility manufacturing protective face masks for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Phoenix, Arizona, May 5, 2020.
Tom Brenner | Reuters

The U.S. spent nearly $3 billion to manufacture ventilators after President Donald Trump said in late March that his administration would have 100,000 of the breathing devices within 100 days, according to the Associated Press.

The AP analyzed federal contracting data that showed the Department of Health and Human Services will exceed the president's target by July 13, which is a week later than the 100-day goal set by Trump.

HHS looks to be getting nearly 200,000 new breathing devices by the end of 2020, according to the AP, which would more than double the number of estimated ventilators that were in U.S. hospitals before the pandemic.

But the ventilator push may be too much, too late.

The demand for the devices has dropped over the last month as the U.S. death toll from the virus nears 80,000, according to the AP. Doctors changed the way they used ventilators on patients after observing unusually high death rates for coronavirus victims put on breathing machines. —Chris Eudaily

CORRECTION: This entry has been updated to correct the U.S. death toll, which is nearing 80,000.

8:37 am: Boris Johnson readies five-tier warning system for easing UK lockdown

Two families maintain social distancing while talking to each other outside a home in Hampstead, north London, as the UK continues in lockdown to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Victoria Jones | PA Images | Getty Images

The United Kingdom is changing its flagship "stay at home" slogan to "stay alert," Reuters reports.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to announce a five-tier warning system in England as part of the government's roadmap for easing lockdown measures, according to Reuters.

Johnson is scheduled to announce the updates in a televised address, which will include a push for people who cannot work from home to get back to work, and easing the limit on allowing people to exercise only once a day, according to a government official and British media, via Reuters.

"We need to have a broader message because we want to slowly and cautiously restart the economy and the country," Housing Minister Robert Jenrick said in an interview, according to Reuters. —Chris Eudaily

Read CNBC's coverage from CNBC's Asia-Pacific and Europe teams overnight here: Russia cases top 200,000