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April 21 coronavirus news

By Jessie Yeung, Adam Renton and Rob Picheta, CNN

Updated 9:13 p.m. ET, April 21, 2020

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12:20 a.m. ET, April 21, 2020

2 Georgia mayors surprised by governor's announcement about resuming business

From CNN’s Angela Barajas and Hira Humayun

Albany Mayor Bo Dorough (left) and Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. (right) speak with CNN's Don Lemon. CNN

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said on Monday that certain businesses in the US state could reopen as soon as Friday -- catching local mayors and officials off guard.

The mayors of Albany and Augusta, both Georgia cities, told CNN they were surprised by Kemp's announcement.

"We were all caught off guard quite frankly surprised that the governor moved as swiftly as he did to open the state back up," Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. said.

State Rep. CaMia Hopson from Albany also criticized the move, saying reopening "may be beneficial to our economy but is in no way beneficial to the health of our city."

"I’ve already heard from several health care workers who have worked tirelessly, risking their lives to care for those who have been impacted by Covid-19, feel that this is a slap in their faces," she said.

Hopson added that the city doesn't have the capacity to support a potential surge in cases if the reopening causes further infections -- and she believes a statewide shelter-in-place order should continue for several more weeks.

"We appreciate all of the support that the state has provided us during this crisis; however, we cannot safely get people back to work without making sure people in Albany, Georgia, especially our health providers, can stay safe.”

12:08 a.m. ET, April 21, 2020

Tom Brady was caught working out in a closed park in Tampa, mayor says

NFL quarterback Tom Brady on January 4 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Elise Amendola/AP

Park staff in Tampa, Florida, were patrolling closed parks when they noticed someone working out in a park downtown.

It was NFL star Tom Brady, said Tampa Mayor Jane Castor in a briefing on Monday.

"Now, I always tell people, I’m not one to gossip so you didn’t hear this from me," she said.

"But you know our parks are closed down and so a lot of our parks staff, they patrol around just to make sure that people aren’t doing contact sports and things like that, and saw an individual working out in one of our downtown parks. And she went over to tell him that it was closed, and it was Tom Brady."

Brady was given a citation for being in the park, she added.

The 42-year-old is widely considered the greatest quarterback of all time, spending almost his entire NFL career -- 20 seasons -- with the New England Patriots, winning six of the nine Super Bowls he reached.

He is now the quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, after signing a multi-year contract with the NFL team in March.

11:52 p.m. ET, April 20, 2020

Fact check: Trump falsely claims he hasn't left White House in "months" at briefing with more inaccuracies

From CNN's Daniel Dale, Tara Subramaniam, Em Steck and Liz Stark

US President Donald Trump holds up papers as he speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on April 20. Alex Brandon/AP

US President Donald Trump made several false claims at his White House coronavirus briefing on Monday. Here's a fact check on what he said:

Trump said people were talking about the need for more coronavirus testing because they want to damage him politically. Asked why he sees the bipartisan outcry over testing as a personal attack, Trump said, "It's not bipartisan. It's mostly partisan."

Fact check: Concerns about testing are indeed bipartisan. The Republican governors of Ohio, Nebraska, Maryland and Massachusetts, as well as Republican Congress members, have all spoken out about the need for more testing.

Trump said he hadn't "left the White House in months" except to send off the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship sent from Virginia to aid New York.

Fact check: Trump held five campaign rallies in February and one on March 2. He left the White House on several occasions in March.

Trump said the US used to have a $500 billion trade deficit with China, citing this figure as evidence of how he believes the US has been taken advantage of economically under previous administrations. Trump claimed before he took office, China "came in and they took $500 billion a year for many years, anywhere from $200 (billion) to $550 billion a year out of our hides."

Fact check: There has never been a $500 billion or $550 billion trade deficit with China. (Trump describes trade deficits as "losing," though many economists dispute that characterization.) The 2018 deficit was $381 billion when counting goods and services, $420 billion when counting goods alone.

Read more here:

Fact check: Trump falsely claims he hasn't left White House in 'months' at briefing with more inaccuracies

11:37 p.m. ET, April 20, 2020

Jack Ma is donating millions of masks and test kits to the WHO

Supplies donated by Jack Ma are unloaded at the airport in Dakar, Senegal, on March 28. Sadak Souici/AFP/Getty Images

Alibaba founder Jack Ma, the billionaire who helped usher e-commerce into China, announced today that he is donating millions of masks and test kits to the World Health Organization.

In a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo, Ma said he and Alibaba would donate 100 million clinical masks, 1 million N-95 masks, and 1 million test kits to the WHO. "One world, one fight," the post read.

This isn't the first coronavirus aid that Ma and Alibaba have supplied:

In January, Alibaba announced it would set up a 1 billion yuan ($141 million) fund to buy medical supplies for Wuhan and Hubei province, the Chinese epicenter of the outbreak.
Days later, Ma donated 100 million yuan ($14.1 million) to help find a coronavirus vaccine.
On March 2, he said on Weibo he had donated 1 million masks to Japan.
On March 6, Ma said on Weibo he was working to ship 1 million masks to Iran.
On March 11, he posted that 1.8 million masks and 100,000 testing kits would go to Europe, with the first batch arriving in Belgium, with more plans to donate to Italy and Spain.
On March 14, Ma said he would donate half a million testing kits and 1 million face masks to the United States.
On March 21, leaders in Ethiopia and Rwanda said they had received the first batch of coronavirus test kits and prevention materials donated by Ma to 54 African countries.

Who is Jack Ma? Ma is China's most famous entrepreneur and -- with a fortune of nearly $40 billion -- one of the country's richest people.

After two decades building Alibaba into a $460 billion e-commerce business, Ma retired from the role of executive chairman and pivoted full-time to philanthropy.

He started the Jack Ma Foundation in 2014, and has cited the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as an inspiration for his charitable endeavors.

11:22 p.m. ET, April 20, 2020

Tourists in India self-isolated in a cave for a month

From CNN's Jack Guy and Esha Mitra

People living under coronavirus lockdown measures are adapting as best they can -- but six foreign tourists took an unusual approach by hiding out in a cave in India.

The group lived in a cave near Rishikesh, a town in Uttarakhand state in northern India made famous by The Beatles, for nearly a month before they were found and quarantined by the police on Sunday, according to a police official.

The tourists -- four men and two women from France, Turkey, Ukraine, the US and Nepal -- were initially staying at a hotel, but ran out of money and took refuge in the cave, said Mukesh Chand, spokesperson for Uttarakhand police.

"They had been living in the cave since March 24, the police found them on Sunday and moved them to Swarg Ashram near Rishikesh, we have asked them to self-quarantine for two weeks as a precaution but the group seemed healthy," Chand told CNN.

The group were rationing their remaining money to buy food and other items, he added.

Read the full story here:

Foreign tourists found self-isolating in Indian cave

By Jack Guy and Esha Mitra, CNN

11:07 p.m. ET, April 20, 2020

Here's a breakdown of coronavirus numbers

From CNN's Scottie Andrew

Comprehending the toll the coronavirus has taken is complicated. The following numbers may help you make sense of it.

211 countries and territories have reported Covid-19 cases. There are cases on every continent except Antarctica.
April 14: The day the US reached its highest number of coronavirus deaths in one day, with 2,405.
1.6 billion: The number of children worldwide who are impacted by school closures, according to UNESCO.
97% of Americans under stay-at-home orders. All but seven states have issued them.
$2 trillion: The amount the global economy could lose during the pandemic, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development.
22 million Americans have applied for unemployment in just the last month.

Read the full breakdown here:

Here's the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic

10:48 p.m. ET, April 20, 2020

Conservative groups boost anti-quarantine protests in the US

From CNN's Michael Warren, Miguel Marquez, Kara Scannell and Evan Perez

People take part in a "reopen" Pennsylvania demonstration on April 20 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

The scene in front of the Pennsylvania statehouse Monday was anything but social distanced.

Hundreds of protesters gathered on the steps of the Capitol building in Harrisburg as police barricades blocked people from advancing closer to the doors. One green rig with the words "Jesus is my vaccine" spray-painted above its front fender drove down 3rd Street, its horn blaring in support.

The demonstrators defied Pennsylvania's statewide stay-at-home orders, calling for a swift end to the government-imposed closures of regular business and for America to "open up."

Similar events have taken place in state capitals across the country, including in Michigan, Texas, Maryland, and Washington, with upcoming protests in additional states.

The organizers have an ally in US President Donald Trump, who over the weekend defended the protesters as "good people" and called on citizens to "LIBERATE" their states. He has also been talking about reopening the American economy for weeks.

The gatherings represent the efforts of a patchwork of conservative groups and individuals. Much of the organizing is done within Facebook groups, including several connected to right-wing activists that have organizational footprints in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and other states. At least one rally saw Confederate flags on display.

Yet as word of the anti-quarantine protests has gained traction on talk radio and in other conservative media, more mainstream conservative figures and groups have glommed on to the phenomenon, amplifying the demonstrations and lending organizational support to existing events.

Read the full story here:

Conservative groups boost anti-stay-at-home protests

10:38 p.m. ET, April 20, 2020

BREAKING: Trump temporarily suspending immigration into US

From CNN's Betsy Klein

US President Donald Trump said late Monday night that he will sign an executive order temporarily suspending immigration to the US, as the nation battles the health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

He added that the measure was done "in light of the attack from the invisible enemy," or the coronavirus pandemic, and to protect US jobs.

It's unclear what mechanism Trump will use to suspend immigration and it is also unclear how long such a suspension could last.

CNN has reached out to the White House to find out what the President means, and what effect this will have on the operation of US border crossings, and on those who already hold green cards.

10:29 p.m. ET, April 20, 2020

It's just past 10:30 p.m. in Atlanta and 5:30 a.m in Istanbul. Here's the latest on the pandemic

Officials accompany passengers to conduct a health check-up at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey on April 20. Rasit Aydogan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The coronavirus pandemic has brought the world to a halt, as countries scramble to contain its impact on health and the economy.

If you're just joining us, here are the latest developments:

US deaths could surpass recent modeling: The final death toll could rise above 60,000 if states reopen too quickly, a source close to the White House coronavirus task force warned. The country has reported at least 786,000 cases and more than 42,000 related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
But states want to reopen: Georgia's governor said certain businesses could reopen as soon as Friday. The governors of Alaska, Tennessee, South Carolina, Illinois, and Louisiana have also said they are considering reopening certain businesses soon -- sparking criticism from other state leaders who warn that the reopening could endanger national health.
US stimulus bill: Lawmakers are on the verge of striking a deal on a nearly $500 billion package to extend funding for an emergency small business lending program, provide additional funding for hospitals and more funding for testing.
In Turkey, at least 4,674 new coronavirus infections were confirmed within 24 hours. The country will go under a four-day curfew starting tomorrow.
In Colombia, the nationwide lockdown will be extended through May 10, though essential services and businesses will remain open.
In Guatemala, there have been reports of people being attacked after they return from overseas, particularly those arriving from the US -- even if they test negative . and follow quarantine rules.