July 1 coronavirus news

United Airlines announced Wednesday that it is adding 25,000 more flights in August than it plans for July, tripling the schedule it ran in June.

While this is a significant uptick and a sign that the airline expects passenger demand to pick up, this is still just 40% of its schedule from a year ago, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

United says the new flights in August include “more flights to mountain and national park destinations like Aspen, Colorado; Bangor, Maine; Bozeman, Montana; and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Internationally, United's August schedule will include a return to Tahiti and additional flights to Hawaii, the Caribbean and Mexico. Across the Atlantic, United will add more flights and options to Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Munich, Paris and Zurich.”

The German interior ministry and the Czech foreign ministry have published a list of countries outside the European Union whose citizens will be allowed entry.

The set of countries for Germany is:

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic also published its travel list on Tuesday, which is down to eight countries:

EU opens its borders -- but not to Americans: The European Union Tuesday formally agreed a set of recommendations allowing travelers from outside the bloc to visit EU countries, months after it shut its external borders in response to the outbreak of Covid-19.

The list of countries included in the EU recommendations are: Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay.

As had been widely expected, the list of 14 countries did not include the United States, whose current Covid infection rate does not meet the criteria set by the EU for it to be considered a "safe country."

The criteria requires that confirmed Covid cases in countries on the list are similar or below that of the EU's per 100,000 citizens over the previous 14 days (starting from June 15).

Countries must also have a "stable or decreasing trend of new cases over this period in comparison to the previous 14 days," while the EU will consider what measures countries are taking, such as contact tracing, and how reliable each nation's data is.

The US has not only the highest number of reported coronavirus infections of any nation, but also the highest number of deaths, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

US infection rates will need to dramatically drop if Americans are to be allowed entry to EU countries, just as the European tourism industry enters what are traditionally its peak months.

Spain and Portugal reopened their joint land border to all travelers on Wednesday, after a three-month closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Spain had wanted to reopen all of its borders on June 21, but Portugal insisted that the border between the two countries remain closed until July 1.

In a series of tweets early on Wednesday, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said: "Today we mark at the highest level the normalization of terrestrial traffic at the border between Portugal and Spain. It's a reunion between neighbors which are brothers and friends."

He said: “It is essential for both countries that the contacts gradually acquire the dimension and dynamic that preceded the outset of the pandemic. I think in particular of the border populations, which cross the border daily".

"The pandemic offered us a vision of a past to which we do not want to return: a continent of closed borders. Freedom of circulation has solidified itself in the spirit of European citizens as one of the fundamental principles of the idea of Europe," Costa added.

The number of Jewish burials in the UK during March to May 2020 was more than double that of last year, as senior figures warn that the Jewish community has "disproportionately" suffered losses from Covid-19.

There were 811 burials in March to May this year, compared to 358 in the previous year -- an increase of 127%, according to the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

Last month, analysis from the UK's Office For National Statistics (ONS) found that people who identified as Jewish showed higher Covid-19 mortality rates than other groups, along with Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs.

When adjusting for region, population density, socio-demographic and household characteristics and ethnic background, ONS found that those who had identified as Jewish at the time of the 2011 population census showed an increased risk of a death involving Covid-19 compared with the Christian population, with Jewish men at twice the risk of Christian men.

The Board of Deputies said that their research suggested the Jewish community had suffered two and half times as many deaths as its proportion of the general population alone would have predicted.

"The reopening of some synagogues this Shabbat will come as a relief to many of us, as some aspects of our Jewish way of life return to normal," President of the Board of Deputies Marie van der Zyl said in a statement on Tuesday.

"But as these figures show, we have disproportionately lost loved ones, friends and family as a community. It is critical we follow Government guidance and caution going forward to save lives," she added.

As of the week ending June 26, the Board of Deputies said it has recorded 501 Jewish funerals carried out where the deceased contracted Covid-19.

Residents of 10 "hot zone" areas of Melbourne, Australia, will return to lockdown as of 11:59 p.m. local time on July 1.

The 300,000 people living in 36 city suburbs within the 10 postcodes are only permitted to leave their homes for “shopping for food and supplies, care and caregiving, exercise, and study or work -- if it can’t be done from home,” the Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews said Wednesday.

City sees a spike in cases: Melbourne has seen a spike in the number of coronavirus cases, with double-digit increases each day for the past 16 days. On Tuesday 73 people tested positive for Covid-19.

“It’s more important than ever for the over 300,000 Victorians living in the restricted postcodes to get tested, regardless of whether you have symptoms,” Andrews said in a statement Wednesday.

Around 113,000 tests have been conducted in Victoria since a "testing blitz" began on June 25, according to Andrew's office. There are now 370 active Covid-19 cases in the state where 20 people have died from the virus.

Delta Air Lines is restoring wine and beer options across most of its US flights three months after it eliminated the options as the pandemic began to cripple demand for air travel.

With the rollout beginning July 2, passengers sitting in its two premium cabins -- First Class and Comfort+ -- will soon have the complimentary option of single-serve bottles of red and white wine, or a choice of Miller Lite, Heineken and SweetWater beer, on flights farther than 500 miles. The rollout will be gradual and alcohol won't be available for passengers sitting further back in Main Cabin. All customers will still get a snack bag that includes a bottled water.

CNN Travel reported earlier this month that, as Europe's skies reopened to increased commercial travel, airlines including Easyjet and KLM in Europe were suspending all or part of their alcoholic drinks service in response to Covid-19.

However, Delta spokesperson Olivia Mays tells CNN that this latest move is not in response to the other airlines' drinks suspension. "It's been in the works for over a month now, so we're really been focused on figuring out the best way to serve," she says.

Beverages were dropped abruptly from the service in March because the airline wanted to minimize interaction between flight attendants and passengers, but it has now worked on procedures to safely give the drinks to customers.

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By Jordan Valinsky and Maureen O'Hare, CNN

More than 10.4 million people worldwide have been infected with Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In many places, as countries reopen, coronavirus cases are on the rise. Here's the latest from around the world:

When Ahmad Ayyad woke up, he was delirious. He didn't realize where he was, why there was a tube down his throat, or how long it had been since he last fed his dog.

And when he looked down, he couldn't recognize himself. Once a 215-pound athlete with chiseled muscles and astounding strength, the 40-year-old looked like a completely different person.

Ayyad is a coronavirus survivor.

Doctors had placed him in an induced coma for 25 days to save his life.

It's been a little over two months since those touch-and-go days and he's still recovering. Still out of breath at times. Still nursing the damage to his lung and heart.

But he has a message -- for those who refuse to wear a mask during this pandemic, for those dismissive of public health guidance, for those in the prime of their health and feel invincible against coronavirus.

Read the full story:

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He was an athlete in the best shape of his life. Then Covid-19 nearly killed him

At least 44,766 new coronavirus cases and 1,277 deaths were reported in the United States on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Some 2,635,538 Covid-19 infections, including at least 127,425 related fatalities, have now been recorded nationwide, per JHU's tally of cases.  

The totals include 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:

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