By Jessie Yeung, Adam Renton, Melissa Macaya and Fernando Alfonso III, CNN
At least 25,294 new coronavirus cases and 1,263 related deaths were reported in the United States on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The US has now recorded at least 1,577,147 Covid-19 infections and 94,702 fatalities linked to the virus.
The totals includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.
CNN is tracking US coronavirus cases here:
From CNN's Nectar Gan and James Griffiths
China begins its most important political event of the year today, following a two-month delay due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The National People's Congress (NPC) will give Chinese leaders an opportunity to highlight their success in containing the virus and underscore the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, as it faces a growing international backlash over its initial handling of the crisis.
The annual gatherings will also reveal Beijing's plans for how to revive an economy battered by the pandemic, which has led to the country's first economic contraction after decades of continuous growth.
A new normal: Like everything else disrupted by the pandemic, this year's NPC meetings will not be the same as usual. Still cautious about a potential second wave of coronavirus infections, the Chinese government is not taking preventive measures lightly.
At the opening ceremony on Friday morning, all delegates donned face masks, except more than two dozen senior leaders sitting in the front two rows on stage -- including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.
The congress will be truncated to just a week -- about half of the usual duration. There will also be fewer news conferences, all of which will be held online via videoconferencing.
Only a select group of reporters will be allowed to cover the opening and closing ceremonies -- after they pass coronavirus tests. But even for them, no public interviews will be allowed.
Read the full story:
From CNN's Sophie Jeong in Seoul
South Korea reported 20 new cases of Covid-19 yesterday, according to the country’s Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
This raises the national total to 11,142 cases and 264 deaths.
Nightclub cluster: Authorities have been working for the past two weeks to respond to a new cluster in Seoul's nightlife district of Itaewon.
After cases began emerging in early May, authorities used credit card records and cell phone data to track down, test, and quarantine people who may have been in the area.
So far, 207 cases have been linked to the cluster, and more than 77,000 related tests have been conducted, Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip said today.
From CNN's Steven Jiang in Beijing
China will not set a specific target for economic growth this year, said Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the 13th National People's Congress in Beijing.
The NPC, China's top legislature, opened its third session on Friday morning.
The decision not to set a target is "because our country will face some factors that are difficult to predict in its development due to the great uncertainty regarding the Covid-19 pandemic and the world economic and trade environment," said Li, the country's second-in-command.
Not setting a specific target for economic growth would enable the government to focus more on achieving stability and security, he said.
Li added that China is expected to face great uncertain economic challenges following the pandemic, and that coronavirus was "the fastest spreading, most extensive, and most challenging public health emergency China has encountered since the founding of the People's Republic."
Some context: The world's second largest economy has taken a huge hit from the virus, as lockdown measures brought much of the country to a halt from late January to March.
China's gross domestic product shrunk 6.8% in the first quarter this year -- the worst plunge since quarterly records began in 1992.
The Chinese Communist Party has pledged to double the size of the economy from 2010 by the end of 2020 -- a goal that could be difficult to reach in the fallout of the pandemic, as growth had already slowed due to a prolonged trade war with the United States.
Chinese President Xi Jinping did not wear a face mask as China's National People's Congress, the country's rubber-stamp parliament, opened its third annual session today.
Xi was seen leading attendees of the NPC in a minute's silence for people who died from coronavirus.
Premier Li Keqiang, the country's second-in-command, then delivered a government work report.
This year's session was postponed for more than two months due to the pandemic.
NPC members were tested for the virus before the event and the leadership were not seen wearing masks in Beijing today.
Some context: The highly choreographed gatherings of the parliament and its advisory body have for decades been China's most important annual political event, and an important stage of political performance.
This year, the session gives the country's leaders an opportunity to highlight their success in containing the virus and underscore the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as lay out plans to revive the battered economy.
From CNN’s Matt Rivers in Mexico City
Mexico reported nearly 3,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday evening -- the country's biggest one-day jump in infections since the pandemic began.
The 2,973 new cases raise the national total to 59,567 -- the third-highest in Latin America behind Brazil and Peru.
Mexico also reported an additional 420 fatalities, bringing the country's death toll to 6,510.
Mexicans will need to observe social distancing guidelines and stay home until at least May 31, when some parts of the economy will slowly reopen, said Deputy Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell, the epidemiologist leading the government’s Covid-19 response.
He specifically pointed to the state of Tabasco on Thursday, which recently experienced a surge in cases after some social distancing guidelines were relaxed in early May.
From CNN Health’s Michael Nedelman and Arman Azad
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted new guidance on its website that estimates that about a third of coronavirus infections are asymptomatic.
The agency also says its “best estimate” is that 0.4% of people who show symptoms and have Covid-19 will die, and it estimates that 40% of coronavirus transmission is occurring before people feel sick.
In the guidance, intended for modelers and public health officials, the CDC outlines five potential scenarios. Four represent “the lower and upper bounds of disease severity and viral transmissibility.” The fifth is the CDC’s “current best estimate about viral transmission and disease severity in the United States.”
In that scenario, the agency describes its estimate that 0.4% of people who feel sick with Covid-19 will die. For people age 65 and older, the CDC puts that number at 1.3%. For people 49 and under, the agency says 0.05% of symptomatic people will die. It assumes that people without symptoms are every bit as infectious as those with symptoms.
The agency also estimates that 3.4% of symptomatic people with Covid-19 will require hospitalization, with that number rising to 7.4% in people 65 and older.
In the most severe scenario, the CDC assumes that 1% of people overall with Covid-19 and symptoms will die. In the least severe scenario, the CDC puts that number at 0.2%.
“The scenarios are intended to advance public health preparedness and planning. They are not predictions or estimates of the expected impact of COVID-19,” the CDC says.
The agency also notes that its numbers could change as more is learned about Covid-19, and says they do not “reflect the impact of any behavioral changes, social distancing, or other interventions.” That would be relevant for some of the agency’s estimates, such as how many infections stem from each case.
With those caveats, the CDC said the new numbers are based on real data received before April 29. The CDC characterized them as preliminary estimates from federal agencies, including the CDC and the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
From CNN's Nikki Carvajal
US President Donald Trump announced that flags will be lowered to half-staff “over the next three days” to honor coronavirus victims.
“I will be lowering the flags on all Federal Buildings and National Monuments to half-staff over the next three days in memory of the Americans we have lost to the CoronaVirus,” the President tweeted verbatim on his way back from Michigan today.
In a subsequent tweet, Trump wrote that on Monday, “the flags will be at half-staff in honor of the men and women in our Military who have made the Ultimate Sacrifice for our Nation.”
Latin America has reported more new coronavirus cases than either the United States or Europe for three consecutive days, driven by high numbers in Brazil, Peru and Mexico, CNN analysis of Johns Hopkins University and World Health Organization data shows.
The numbers: The region reported at least 32,854 new cases on Wednesday, with more than half of them in Brazil.
The US reported 22,534 new cases that day, according to JHU, while Europe -- including Russia -- reported about 17,900, according to the WHO. Both agencies rely on national governments for their data.
Latin America also reported more new cases than the US or Europe on Tuesday, CNN calculations show: At least 29,240 in Latin America, compared to 22,391 in the United States and about 19,200 in Europe.
And on Monday, Latin America reported at least 23,388 new infections, while the US reported 22,813 and Europe reported about 20,000.
CNN is tracking worldwide coronavirus cases here:
