HuffPost reporters around the world are tracking the pandemic and the measures being taken to flatten the curve of transmission.
Read the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic below. (To see the latest updates, you may need to refresh the page. All times are Eastern. For earlier updates on the pandemic, go here.)
New York Unveils Phased Regional Reopening Plan — 5/11/20, 12:36 p.m. ET
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) marked “a new phase” in the state’s COVID-19 response, laying out a phased reopening plan by region that will begin Friday, when the state’s stay-at-home order is set to expire.
Each region will have to meet seven metrics for reopening, including a consistent 14-day decline in cases, sufficient hospital capacity and enough testing and tracing per capita. The regional approach is a contrast from Cuomo’s previous insistence that COVID-19 measures should be statewide.
Businesses will reopen in four phases, with hotels, restaurants and schools as well and arts, entertainment and recreational facilities among the last that will be allowed to resume operations, Cuomo said.
Some will be exempted, such as landscaping, gardening, any “low-risk outdoor” activities, drive-in movie theaters and restaurants or retail outlets that are already doing contactless or curbside pickup or delivery.
Over the last few weeks, the number of new COVID-19 cases has consistently declined in the state, which has had by far the most cases in the United States.
Cuomo tried to contrast the reopening plan with that of other states, where governors have begun to reopen businesses even as cases in their states continue to rise, unlike in New York.
As HuffPost’s Michael Hobbes reported, these metrics-based reopening approaches can be fairly suspect and do not always hold states and regions accountable, especially given the possibility of a second wave of infections.
— Marina Fang
Disney Reopens Shanghai’s Disneyland, With Strict Controls — 5/11/20, 11:39 a.m. ET
Shanghai’s Disneyland on Monday became the first Disney park to reopen since the coronavirus began spreading in January, serving as a test for the entertainment giant as it assesses when to reopen parks worldwide.
The park is operating at 30% capacity with strict entry controls, including temperature checks and use of the Chinese government’s QR code tracking system, which controls citizens’ movements by assigning each individual green, yellow or red designations based on their health and how much they’ve interacted with people who tested positive or were exposed to the virus.
Read more from the Associated Press.
— Marina Fang
UK Movie Theaters Won’t Reopen Until At Least July 4 — 5/11/20, 11:17 a.m. ET
Officials in the United Kingdom don’t expect movie theaters to reopen until July 4 at the earliest, according to a COVID-19 reopening plan announced Monday.
The plan puts movie theaters in the “high-risk” group of businesses, which will be among the last to reopen. The category also includes restaurants, pubs, hair salons, religious facilities and other enclosed places where it would be difficult to practice social distancing.
Many of these businesses may not be prepared to reopen until even later, the U.K. government said.
“Some venues which are, by design, crowded and where it may prove difficult to enact distancing may still not be able to re-open safely at this point, or may be able to open safely only in part,” the plan read.
Most theater chains around the world remain closed due to the pandemic. Hollywood executives have been aiming for an early July reopening, ahead of the July 17 premiere of Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet.” The action thriller is slated to be the first major blockbuster remaining on the movie calendar to be released, as most other spring and summer movies were pushed back — but even that date seems optimistic.
— Marina Fang
South Korea Donates 2 Million Face Masks To U.S. — 5/11/2020, 3:58 a.m. ET
South Korea’s foreign ministry said Sunday that it had donated 2 million face masks to the United States, in a show of “support for our ally.” The masks were set to arrive in America on Monday aboard a U.S. cargo flight, the ministry said, per South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
Harry Harris, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, thanked the country on Twitter for the shipment.
“Our alliance and friendship are as vital and ironclad today as it was 70 years ago,” Harris wrote.
— Dominique Mosbergen
Boris Johnson Sets Out ‘5 Alert’ Plan For Britain To Ease Lockdown — 5/10/20, 2:30 p.m. ET
U.K. prime minister Boris Johnson has announced the country’s first changes to the coronavirus lockdown, which will come into force on Wednesday, but warned it would be “madness” to remove restrictions entirely this week.
Johnson said people will be permitted to do “unlimited” outdoor exercise, sunbathe, play sports with members of their household, and “drive to other destinations.” He added that from Monday people who cannot work from home will be “actively encouraged” to return to their jobs.
But in the pre-recorded speech to the nation on Sunday evening, the prime minister said that while some rules will be relaxed, fines for people who break the lockdown guidelines will be increased.
Johnson said some primary-age children could return to school by June 1 “at the earliest.” The “phased” reopening of shops could also be allowed at the start of next month. Under the P.M.’s plan, some of the hospitality industry and other public places could be allowed to reopen at the beginning of July.
A new alert system, similar to that used to monitor active terrorist threats, is being established to monitor the threat posed by the virus. The U.K. is currently at level four of the five-tier system, just below the “most critical” threat.
The number of registered deaths from COVID-19 currently stands at 33,021 across the country.
Read more here.
— Ned Simons
Mnuchin: Actual U.S. Unemployment Rate ‘Could Be’ Close To 25% — 5/10/20, 12:15 p.m. ET
The Labor Department reported this week that the unemployment rate has hit a record 14.7%, but Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday that the actual rate could be closer to 25%.
The latter figure would match the joblessness rate during the Great Depression, which is estimated to have peaked at 24.9% in 1933.
On “Fox News Sunday,” Mnuchin said the reported unemployment numbers would probably “get worse before they get better.”
“That’s why we’re very focused on rebuilding this economy and getting back to where it was,” he said. “This is no fault of American business. This no fault of American workers. This is the result of a virus.”
— Hayley Miller
White House Officials Killed Report On Reopening Country, Not The CDC ― 5/8/20, 7:07 p.m. ET
It was high-ranking White House officials who made the decision to shelf detailed reopening guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Associated Press reported Friday.
AP’s findings conflict with claims by White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who said Friday that CDC Director Robert Redfield did not approve the documents. Emails obtained by the AP show that he did.
AP also found that CDC officials repeatedly inquired why the White House hadn’t posted their guidance, which included “decision trees,” a type of flow chart that would establish benchmarks for when communities can resume business as usual. But the White House killed the documents for good on April 30.
― Lydia O’Connor
For earlier updates on the pandemic, go here.
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