June 23 coronavirus news

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is expected to testify this morning that the agency "has developed a new laboratory test that checks for three viruses at the same time, two types of influenza viruses (A and B) and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19."

What this means: In his opening statement, prepared for the House Energy and Commerce Committee and posted online, Redfield said, "testing for all three viruses simultaneously will allow public health laboratories to continue surveillance for influenza while testing for Covid-19. This will save public health laboratories both time and resources, including testing materials that are in short supply."

Redfield said the single test for all three viruses will also help find co-infections, "which is important for doctors to diagnose and treat people properly."

Chinese food delivery service Ele.me said on Tuesday that it is conducting nucleic acid tests for coronavirus on all its food delivery workers in Beijing.

Nucleic acid tests work by detecting the virus' genetic code,

The company also announced their newly registered delivery drivers have to receive a nucleic acid test before they can accept orders online, as part of a series of new precautionary measures posted on the company's Weibo page. This comes the same day Beijing’s Health Commission announced that one of Ele.me’s food delivery workers tested positive for Covid-19. 

About the company: Ele.me is owned by Chinese tech company Alibaba and operates across 2,000 cities in China employing more than 3 million delivery workers. Ele.me has not released any information about the size of its workforce in Beijing and how many drivers have been tested so far. 

Miami's Jackson Health System has seen an 88% increase in Covid-19 patients in the past 14 days, according to data posted by the hospital system on Twitter. On June 8, Jackson Health reported 104 Covid-19 patients. On Monday, they reported 196.

Jackson Health System is a nonprofit academic medical system. The State of Florida does not release the total number of daily Covid-19 cases in the state.

Here's some background: The major thrust of new coronavirus cases in the United States is in the South and West, where officials say more young people are ignoring social distancing measures and testing positive.

Young people are more likely to have milder outcomes from coronavirus, but they can still infect others who are more at risk.

Dr. Andrew Pastewski, head ICU physician at Jackson South Medical Center in Miami, spoke Tuesday about the surge of patients he's seeing at his hospital during an interview on CNN’s “New Day.”

Pastewski told CNN he has two sets of patients in the ICU right now: older patients that may live in a nursing home, and younger patients in their 50s and 60s.

WATCH:

Peru’s Health Ministry has reported the lowest daily increase since the beginning of May, with 2,511 new Covid-19 cases. The total number of cases has now topped 257,000.

The country's death toll is at least 8,223, with 174 new deaths, according to data released by the Ministry on Monday night.

Today marks 100 days since Peruvian authorities declared a state of emergency in the country in order to fight the pandemic.

In an interview with the country's Andina state news agency, Health Minister Victor Zamora said that Peru's capital Lima, which has 80% of the country’s coronavirus cases, currently shows the R level between 0.7% and 0.8% and showed optimism about the evolution of the pandemic.

Zamora acknowledged the lack of oxygen for patients is still a big challenge in the country and stated his government is buying plants to produce medical oxygen, among other emergency measures.

Gradual easing: Yesterday, shopping centers were allowed to open in Lima and other towns — with some exceptions — allowing the resumption of economic activities.

The state of emergency was initially declared on March 16 and continues until June 30. A national curfew between 9 p.m and 4 a.m local for all regions across the country was also announced on Monday, modifying previous timings per region.

If you're just joining us, here are the latest developments on the global coronavirus outbreak:

More than 9.1 million infections have been confirmed worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. But as some countries have not yet controlled the first wave of the pandemic, others have announced new outbreaks.

South Korea and Germany -- who initially seemed to have the virus under control -- are racing to contain newer clusters, which are threatening their relative progress at containing the pandemic.

Meanwhile in the US, cases are spiking in some states as the nation continues to reopen.

India, with the fourth highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, has seen more than 100,000 new cases in the past eight days as the country struggles to contain the virus. 

In Latin America, which has seen the biggest recent increases in cases, the also situation continues to worsen. 

On Monday, Mexico recorded a higher daily death count than Brazil for the second consecutive day, and Brazil, which has the second highest numbers of cases worldwide, has reported an average of 1,000 virus-related deaths a day over the past week.

Also:

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reveals big relaxation of lockdown rules: Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that people across England will be able to go to restaurants and pubs, hair salons, museums and cinemas from July 4, in the most significant relaxation of restrictions since they were imposed three months ago.

World trade dropped by nearly a fifth in second quarter: World trade fell by 18.5% in the second quarter of the year as the Covid-19 pandemic hit the global economy, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said on Monday. The fall in trade is “the steepest on record,” but Director-General Roberto Azevêdo said it could have been “much worse.”

Germany imposes lockdown around virus-stricken meat plant: The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has imposed a new lockdown in the area around a meat factory hit by a coronavirus outbreak.

The district where the Toennies meat processing plant is located -- and the scene of a Covid-19 cluster that has sickened some 1,553 workers -- will return to lockdown measures, the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westfalia announced Tuesday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that people across England will be able to go to restaurants and pubs, hair salons, museums and cinemas from July 4, in the most significant relaxation of restrictions since they were imposed three months ago.

"All hospitality indoors will be limited to table service, and our guidance will encourage minimal staff and limited contact," Johnson told the House of Commons on Tuesday.

He added that hair salons could open with appropriate precautions, such as the use of visors.

"Thanks to our progress we can now go further and safely ease the lockdown in England," he said.

The PM added that from July 4, two households of any size would now be able to meet "in any setting inside or out." Current rules only allow groups of up to six people to meet outside, while keeping 2 meters apart.

Johnson said that while people should still be keeping 2 meters apart when possible, the rule would be reduced to 1 meter if additional mitigation measures were in place.

WATCH:

Delta Air Lines says they have seen 500 positive cases of coronavirus among their 90,000 employees worldwide.

The airline said they have added more space, clean surfaces and introduced safer service which includes the requirement that all employees and customers wear face masks as layers of protection, according to a statement from airline spokesman Joseph Warpinski. 

Warpinski said these efforts have resulted in the rate of positive Covid-19 cases among Delta’s global employees being nearly five times lower than the U.S. national average in May and during the first half of June 2020.

In addition to the 500 employees testing positive for Covid-19, 10 airline employees have passed away from the virus since the start of the pandemic in March, Warpinski told CNN.

When Mariel Balaban drove across the United States in the middle of the pandemic, she knew that avoiding public restrooms was not an option for her young family.

"Traveling with a toddler and being seven months pregnant means lots of 'potty stops,'" said Balaban, a communications professional who moved from San Francisco to the Philadelphia area in early April. But Balaban worried that finding safe, clean public restrooms was going to be a challenge.

To mitigate the risk, she packed masks and disposable gloves. When stopping at gas stations, the family tried to avoid touching anything unnecessarily.

Everyone disinfected their hands each time they returned to the car, and Balaban wiped down "high-touch" surfaces likely to contain germs.

Still, the restroom thing was stressful.

And a new study underscores the potential risk, showing how flushing a toilet can send plumes of germs into the air. While the World Health Organization has said the risk of contracting Covid-19 from fecal matter appears to be low, it noted studies that have suggested the Covid-19 virus can be excreted in feces.

Read the full story here:

RELATED

Public restrooms: What you need to know about using them safely amid the pandemic

A new coronavirus testing center will be opened in Guetersloh, Germany, on Tuesday, according to a local association of physicians.

The region is at the center of a Covid-19 cluster that has sickened some 1,553 workers following an outbreak at a Toennies meatpacking plant.

The center is opening because of the “current special situation,” according to a press release from the association of statutory health insurance physicians in Westfalen-Lippe (KVWL). The center will opens its doors at 2 p.m. CET Tuesday to test asymptomatic people.

“Testing of asymptomatic people is usually not in our remit of registered physicians. Because of the current special situation in Guetersloh district, the public health service has tasked us to run these tests in our practices in the region. It is clear for us: we help where we can,” Dr. Dirk Spelmeyer, chair of the KVWL said in a statement.

Here's some background: The German state of North-Rhine Westphalia has imposed a new lockdown in the area around the Toennies meat processing factory.

The state's Prime Minister Armin Laschet announced that the entire district of Guetersloh -- home to more than 360,000 people -- would be locked down for the next seven days.