April 13 coronavirus news

A source close to the White House tells CNN that President Trump has been calling allies and associates all weekend, complaining about recent media reports about his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump thinks "everybody is trying make themselves look good," the source said. In particular, Trump has been fixated on two government officials at the center of the response: Dr. Anthony Fauci and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.  

Trump is clearly trying to make Fauci uncomfortable, a tactic he uses with many of his top officials, the official said. Part of the problem, the source said, is that some in the president's circle have been criticizing Fauci, paining the doctor as somehow aligned with the Clintons.  

Trump surrogates have been spreading negative stories about Fauci in recent days, attempting to portray the doctor as party responsible for the government's response to the virus, to deflect criticism from the president. White House officials have insisted Trump has confidence in Fauci. Last Friday, Trump defended his medical experts at the coronavirus task force press conference. But he stopped short of telling his allies to cease their political attacks on Fauci and the other top doctor on the task force, Deborah Birx. 

The source went on to say that Trump is quickly losing patience with Azar, who has been the subject of speculation for weeks that the cabinet member may be on thin ice with the White House. Trump believes Azar's aides were partly behind a scathing New York Times piece on Trump's response to the virus, the source said. This source added Trump is particularly frustrated with the criticism that he could have acted sooner.

According to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases in the United States, there are at least 557,663 cases of coronavirus in the US.

At least 22,116 people have died in the US from coronavirus.  

The totals includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other U.S. territories, as well as all repatriated cases. Wyoming is the only state or territory that is not reporting a death from coronavirus.'

So far on Monday, Johns Hopkins has reported 363 new cases and 37 reported deaths.   

The Supreme announced today that it would hear a handful of cases — including two concerning President Trump’s bid to shield his financial documents from release — by telephone sometime time next month.

There will likely be a "live audio feed of these arguments to news media," the Court said.

The cases had originally been slated for oral arguments on March 31 but were delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The court’s move comes as lower federal courts are using audio and teleconference capabilities to conduct business.

Mexico's Stock Exchange announced the death of its president Jaime Ruiz Sacristan on Sunday.

Sacristan had tested positive for coronavirus last month after traveling to Vail, Colorado. 

While Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he plans to issue an executive order this week with guidelines to reopen businesses in the state, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said his city is not ready.

The city has more than 2,000 positive cases and 16 deaths from coronavirus. Turner said that despite urging people to stay home and social distance, "we know there’s more community spread than what the numbers indicate."

“We know that there’s more community spread out there, and we are expecting more deaths,” he said.

Remember: Earlier today, Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the United States is "nearing the peak right now" of the coronavirus pandemic.  

"I think we'll sometime, hopefully this week, we'll be able to say — you'll know when you're at the peak when the next day is less than the day before," Redfield said.

The UK’s coronavirus death toll has reached 11,329, according to figures released by the Department of Health and Social Care.

That’s an increase of 717 since Sunday's report. 

About the numbers: The death-toll figures are current as of 5 p.m. local time yesterday, but it only records those who died in hospital from coronavirus.

Overall, there have now more than 88,600 confirmed cases in the UK since the outbreak began.

Four US sailors from the USS Roosevelt have been transferred to the hospital, a US defense tells CNN.

"Over the weekend, four additional Theodore Roosevelt Sailors were admitted to the hospital for monitoring. All are in stable condition, none are in ICU or on ventilators," the official said.

The Navy announced earlier that another sailor has died after being transferred to the ICU last week.

US stocks opened slightly lower today, ahead of what could be the beginning of a sour earnings season. Coronavirus could take a big bite out of earnings, even though the pandemic didn't shut down the US economy until mid-March. 

Last week was one for the history books for stocks, with the S&P 500 recording its best week since 1974. 

US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said some of the US hot spots in the coronavirus pandemic — New York, New Jersey, Detroit and New Orleans — appear to be seeing Covid-19 cases "leveling off" or even going down.

 Adams added the US must "keep at it."