US president says spread of COVID-19 will be ‘under control’ while Italy warns of new regional lockdowns as cases surge.
US President Trump has insisted that the virus will be brought “under control” even as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported at least 67,574 new coronavirus cases and at least 877 new deaths in the country.
Italy’s Lazio region, which includes Rome, is warning citizens that local lockdowns might have to be ordered if there are more clusters of coronavirus infections.
The number of deaths from the coronavirus around the world has reached 604,000 with the United States the worst affected. There are 14.4 million confirmed cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Here are the latest updates.
Monday, July 20
01:00 GMT – El Salvador postpones economic reopening
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has announced that he would postpone the second phase of the country’s economic reopening, slated to begin Tuesday, after evaluating inputs from experts and the Salvadoran health ministry, Reuters news agency reported.
Just on Saturday, the president had reiterated his intention to move forward with the next stage of restarting the economy.
“After listening to the opinions of experts and above all, the Ministry of Health … I have decided to suspend Phase 2 of the economic reopening,” Bukele wrote in a social media post on Sunday.
El Salvador has registered a total of 11,846 coronavirus cases and 335 deaths.
00:30 GMT – Mexico reports 5,311 new cases of coronavirus, 296 more deaths
Mexico’s Health Ministry reported 5,311 new confirmed coronavirus infections and 296 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 344,224 cases and 39,184 deaths, according to Reuters news agency early on Monday.
The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
00:12 GMT – US state of Florida adds 12,000 new cases
The US state of Florida reported more than 12,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the fifth day in a row the state has recorded over 10,000 new infections, even as President Donald Trump pledged that “it’s going to be under control”.
The virus has claimed over 140,000 US lives since the pandemic started, and Florida, California, and other Southern and Western states are creating new records every day, according to Reuters news agency.
“We have embers and we do have flames. Florida became more flame-like, but it’s – it’s going to be under control,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News television channel.
00:01 GMT – Golf legend Jack Nicklaus reveals he had COVID-19
US golf legend Jack Nicklaus has revealed that he and his wife tested positive for the coronavirus at the onset of the pandemic, AP news agency reported.
Nicklaus and his wife, Barbara, turned 80 a month apart at the start of the year.
He said his wife had no COVID-19 symptoms, while Nicklaus had a sore throat and a cough. Nicklaus said they were home in the US state of Florida, from March 13 “until we were done with it” on about April 20.
“It didn’t last very long, and we were very, very fortunate, very lucky,” Nicklaus said. “Barbara and I are both of the age, both of us 80 years old, that is an at-risk age. Our hearts go out to the people who did lose their lives and their families. We were just a couple of the lucky ones.”
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Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Ted Regencia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
You can find all the key developments from yesterday, July 19, here.
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