June 30 coronavirus news

The US Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency use authorization to the company Beckman Coulter for its Covid-19 antibody test.

Beckman Coulter announced the authorization on Monday and noted that it has already shipped tests to more than 400 hospitals, clinics and diagnostics labs in the United States, as well as begun distributing the test globally. The company claims it is able to deliver more than 30 million tests a month.

"At a time when significant confusion was created by the initial influx of poor-quality antibody tests, our team worked meticulously to develop a highly sensitive and specific assay," Julie Sawyer Montgomery, president of Beckman Coulter, said in the company's announcement. 

Some context: As of Monday, the FDA has authorized 24 antibody tests for emergency use in the United States, according to the agency. The tests are an important public health tool to determine who has had Covid-19 in the past. They look for antibodies that are evidence of an immune response to coronavirus infection.

Before making his opening statement in Tuesday's hearing on the US response to the coronavirus pandemic, Senate HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander reiterated his support for wearing masks and his view that President Trump should wear one to eliminate the political stigma around doing so.

Alexander lamented the politicization of face coverings, saying the growing divide is why he has suggested that the President "occasionally wear a mask, even though in most cases it's not necessary for him to do so."

More on this: On Sunday, Alexander told CNN's Manu Raju on "Inside Politics" that he thinks it would "help" if President Trump wore a mask.

As he made these remarks, Alexander told the committee that he was not wearing a mask because he was at least six feet apart from others in the room, as is permitted in the Office of Attending Physician's guidance.

The European Union published its list of countries to start lifting travel restrictions. The US is not on that list.

“Council agrees to start lifting travel restrictions for residents of some third countries," a readout says.

Based on the criteria and conditions set out, starting tomorrow, member states should start lifting the travel restrictions at the external borders for residents of the following third countries:

China is also on the list, but subject to confirmation of reciprocity.

According to the readout, regarding the epidemiological situation, the countries on the list should meet the following criteria:

The European Union said this list of countries allowed to enter the EU should be reviewed every two weeks and may be updated.

US stocks opened lower on Tuesday, taking back some of the prior session’s big gains.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite had their best day in nearly two weeks Monday, while the Dow recorded its best session since June 5.

Rising Covid-19 infections and setbacks to reopening schedules are weighing on market sentiment with no positive news there to outweigh the negative.

Here's how the market opened:

Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno announced additional controls for the country’s capital Quito due to the coronavirus pandemic, while he again implored the populaiton to follow the government’s health safety guidance, social distancing and hygiene rules.

In a speech via social media on Monday evening, Moreno announced more controls will be established across four areas in Quito: the capital’s historical centre, Panecillo, Chilibulo, and La Ecuatoriana neighborhoods, in order to reduce the movement of people. 

The president also announced stronger controls on informal street vendors in the city, as well as improving the capacity of the health services.

Moreno told Ecuadoreans that after more than 3 months of fighting the pandemic, no measure is enough if each citizen does not take individual responsibility in fighting the pandemic.

The president also said that during the first 15 days of June, a total of 1,200 social parties were stopped by the National Police, while 106,000 citizens were fined for breaching curfew.

Moreno implored Ecuador’s citizens to keep wearing face masks, keep social distance and wash their hands at all times. “We can’t assign a policeman for each citizen”, he said.

On Monday, Ecuador’s Health Ministry reported a total of 55,255 Covid-19 cases, while the death toll stands at 4,429.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said there "won’t be social distancing" and masks will be optional at this weekend's Fourth of July celebration at Mount Rushmore, which President Trump said he'll attend.

In an interview with Fox News, Noem said those who are concerned about the event — which is actually taking place on July 3 — should stay home.

"We told those folks that have concerns that they can stay home, but those who want to come and join us, we'll be giving out free face masks, if they choose to wear one," she said.

However, she added:

What we know about the event: According to Recreation.gov, there was an online lottery for tickets, and the park will be closed to general visitation during the event, opening to ticketed guests at 3:00 p.m. local time. 

There may be health screening for ticketed guests in one area, but the website warns: “This event will be attended by thousands. Participants will be in close contact for an extended amount of time, please plan accordingly.”

CNN put in requests with the park, the National Park Service, and the Governor’s office for details on how many tickets have been distributed and what, if any, measures will be taken to enforce social distancing or the wearing of face coverings.

A recording on the park’s main telephone line Monday said, “There are no social distancing requirements in place at this time.” 

As Major League Baseball gets ready to restart its season next month, the league is encouraging players to not socialize or come within six feet of each other during upcoming games. The league is banning spitting of any kind with chewing gum permitted as an alternative.

On Monday, MLB revealed a sampling of the unique on-field rules and procedures teams will adhere to starting this week. Players and staff are required to report to their teams this Wednesday.

MLB said all personnel will be required to complete Covid-19 screening and testing before entering club facilities. Clubs can begin full workouts starting Friday with Opening Day games on either July 23 or 24.  

The league has told all 30 clubs that they must submit coronavirus health and safety action plans for league approval. Clubs are also being told that they need to physically expand dugout and bullpen spaces at their respective ballparks.

As for players socializing, the league said this:

New non-traditional rules will be in place when the season starts including the addition of a designated hitter in the National League and placing a runner on second base at the start of each teams’ extra-inning frame.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised to “unleash the potential of the entire country” as he announced what he described as a "New Deal" for Britain to help its struggling economy recover from coronavirus. 

Likening his ambitions to rebuild the country to the achievements of Franklin D Roosevelt, who carried out an overhaul of the US economy in the wake of the Great Depression, Johnson said his government would be "powerful and determined and [put] its arms around people at a time of crisis.”

The £5 billion ($6.2bn) plan will focus on infrastructure projects, which the government has said will fuel jobs and economic recovery.

In recent weeks, Johnson's pandemic response has been attacked across the political spectrum, as the UK has suffered one of the worst death tolls in the world.

The country went into lockdown later than many other European nations, and the government's core strategy to protect the national health service and abandon testing in the wider public on March 12 was widely criticized by public health experts, who believe it has led to thousands of unnecessary deaths in the community.

Johnson has also been embroiled in a scandal surrounding his chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, who it emerged had traveled over 260 miles with his wife and child after developing virus symptoms.

In economic terms, the UK is trying to stave off its worst downturn in more than 300 years. The country's GDP contracted by more than 20% in April, a record, following a 6% decline in March. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned in June that the UK would suffer the worst downturn of any major economy this year.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon responded to Johnson's plan on Tuesday, saying the stimulus fell "woefully short" of the money needed to put the UK "on a par with Germany."

"I also suspect there will be less to it than meets the eye in terms of genuinely new money," she said on Twitter.

The United States has long prided itself as the world's shining beacon. But its current status is a much darker one: the globe's leader in coronavirus cases.

More than 125,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the US, and more than 2.5 million Americans have been infected.

American life has been irrevocably altered by the worst pandemic in a century. And as the country struggles to reopen, cases of Covid-19 have surged again -- this time in young people and in states that had previously avoided the brunt of the virus.

Read the full story about the pandemic's devastating toll on the US.