Coronavirus live news: US cases top 4m as WHO chief chides Pompeo for ‘untrue’ claims




8.12pm EDT20:12

Here is the full story on Trump cancelling Republican national convention events in Jacksonville, Florida:

Donald Trump has cancelled the part of the Republican national convention that had been due to take place in Jacksonville, Florida, his biggest public retreat yet from the ferocity of the coronavirus pandemic.

The US president’s insistence on a packed crowd had forced the Republican National Committee to announce in June that it would move most of its agenda – including Trump’s acceptance speech as nominee – to Jacksonville from Charlotte, North Carolina, where health guidelines are stricter.

But since then, virus infections have soared in Florida, including a record 173 deaths on Thursday, forcing Trump to reluctantly pull the plug.

The move is the latest and starkest example of Trump bowing to the scientific reality of the pandemic, which has now infected 4m Americans and killed more than 144,000. A campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last month suffered a poor turnout, presumably in part because of fears that the virus would spread in the indoor arena. Another recent plan for an outdoor rally in New Hampshire was cancelled, ostensibly because of the weather.




8.00pm EDT20:00

Bolsonaro criticised for lack of distancing, despite positive test

Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, is again coming under fire after being caught on camera chatting with cleaners on the grounds of his official residence without a mask – despite testing positive for the coronavirus only yesterday.

The far-right populist, whose dismissive response to the pandemic has been globally condemned, first announced he had been diagnosed with Covid-19 in early July, when Brazil had suffered more than 65,000 deaths and 1.6m confirmed cases.

Since then Brazil’s death toll has risen to nearly 83,000 – the second highest in the world – and the number of cases to 2.2m, a record 67,860 of which were recorded yesterday.

Brazil’s president again tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday and has supposedly been in isolation since 6 July.

Despite that Bolsonaro – who has undermined social distancing efforts and repeatedly downplayed the illness as a “bit of a cold” – was on Thursday spotted by a Reuters photographer roaming the estate around Brasília’s Palácio da Alvorada on a motorbike and talking to cleaners without gear to protect them.




7.50pm EDT19:50




7.43pm EDT19:43

US cases pass 4 million

The US surpassed 4m coronavirus cases on Thursday, after more than 1,100 new Covid-19-related deaths were reported in a single day on Wednesday for the first time since late May.

As states continue to dial back reopening efforts, nearly every metric for tracking the outbreak has shown a worsening spread. The US politicians volunteering other people’s lives to fight Covid-19Read more

“I don’t see this disappearing,” Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told tuberculosis researchers during a live stream on Wednesday. “It is so efficient in its ability to transmit from human to human that I think we ultimately will get control of it. I don’t really see us eradicating it.”

More than 915,000 new cases have been confirmed in just the past two weeks, totaling more than the entire month of June. The US has now exceeded 140,000 deaths, with Texas alone reporting a state record 197 new fatalities on Wednesday.

Hospitalizations have also increased and, the Associated Press reports, testing facilities have been overwhelmed by the surge, creating processing delays.




7.39pm EDT19:39

WHO chief chides Pompeo for ‘untrue’ claims




7.37pm EDT19:37

Trump cancels the Jacksonville Republican National Convention

US President Donald Trump cancelled the Jacksonville, Florida Republican National Convention on Thursday.

Trump said that it is “not the right time” for a big convention in Jacksonville. Jacksonville, Florida residents filed a lawsuit against the city, the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign earlier this month to stop the convention in August, concerned that a crowded event would accelerate the spread of disease in a state that is already a coronavirus hotspot.

The Republican National Committee had recently announced it would restrict attendance at its Jacksonville convention as Florida’s coronavirus cases and deaths spiked, limiting the number of guests that delegates are able to bring and spreading the event across two venues.

Florida reported its largest number of deaths in a single day from the coronavirus today, and more than 10,000 Floridians have tested positive for Covid-19 so far.

The convention was originally meant to be held in Charlotte, but the RNC moved the location after North Carolina’s governor Roy Cooper was reluctant about hosting large, crowded events amid the pandemic without distancing and safety measures.

“When we made these changes, we had hoped to be able to plan a traditional convention celebration to which we are all accustomed,” RNC chair Ronna McDaniel wrote in a letter to committee members at the time. “However, adjustments must be made to comply with state and local health guidelines.”

Updated
at 7.38pm EDT




7.30pm EDT19:30

Summary