July 5 coronavirus news

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said it is “too early to tell” whether Florida will be a safe place for the Republican National Convention next month amid a surge in Covid-19 cases there.

Hahn is a member of the White House Coronoavirus Task Force.

Florida set an all-time record of most coronavirus cases in the US in a single day on Saturday, with a total of 11,458, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. 

More on the convention: Jacksonville, Florida, where the majority of the convention is set to take place, implemented mandatory face mask requirements last week due to the spike in infections.

The President’s re-election team selected Florida as the new location for much of the convention after sparring with officials in North Carolina over social distancing requirements. The entire convention had been set to take place in Charlotte, North Carolina. Now only a small part of it will take place there.

CNN reached out to the Republican National Convention and the Trump campaign for comment.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn declined to defend President Trump’s claim from his July 4 speech that 99% of Covid-19 cases are “harmless."

Hahn repeatedly refused to say whether the Trump's claim is true or false.

When Hahn was presented Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures showing only a third of Covid-19 cases are asymptomatic, Hahn did not defend the President’s claim about how many coronavirus cases go unnoticed by the infected. 

“What I’ll say is that we have data in the White House Task Force. Those data show us that this is a serious problem. People need to take it seriously,” Hahn said. 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York City is still on track to launch into phase three of its Covid-19 reopening Monday.

The governor reiterated that indoor dining will not be a part of this reopening. 

What the numbers say: New York added 533 cases yesterday, with .84% positivity rate. The state reported eight deaths. 

Syria recorded three new deaths from Covid-19 in the highest daily death count for the country, according to the Syrian Health Ministry, Syrian state news agency SANA reported on Sunday. This brings the country’s death toll to 13.

The Health Ministry also confirmed 20 additional cases of the coronavirus, SANA reported, bringing the total number of cases in Syria to 358. This doubles the number of daily new cases compared to the previous day.

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber discussed the accelerating coronavirus outbreak in Florida and the difficulty in containing the outbreak amid mixed messages from leaders in Washington, including President Trump. 

Gelber told CNN that the virus is spreading in Miami Beach, “because of this incredible activity.

 Gelber also had grim warnings about hospital capacity in Miami Beach.

“Our hospital capacity is reducing and it really is sort of a — we see a positive increase and then you go to your hospitalization, and we have doubled our hospitalization, our census has now doubled in last 14 days and then you go to your intensive care and that also doubled and we even have 158 people on ventilators now, and I think two weeks ago 64," the mayor said.

Gelber was sharply critical of Trump’s leadership on coronavirus.

“How do you tell somebody they have to wear a mask and be socially distanced when the President doesn't, and hosts a rally where they're almost celebrating the lack of those simple countermeasures? So really, we're not on the same page," he said. 

Some context: Florida reported at least 11,445 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the state's largest increase in one day. 

The United Kingdom's National Health Service, known as the NHS, marks its 72nd anniversary Sunday at a poignant and difficult time for perhaps the country's most beloved public institution.

Its doctors, nurses and other medical staff have been on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic for months, with dozens of their own ranks losing their lives to the illness.

All over the United Kingdom, billboards, posters, and even small crayon drawings have popped up to thank the nearly 1.5 million healthcare workers of the NHS for their service. 

In the trendy east London neighborhood of Shoreditch, that gratitude comes in graffiti form. Boarded-up shop windows have been converted into murals dedicated to the public health system. 

Street artist Nathan Bowen told CNN he wanted to breathe life into spaces made dead under lockdown, to ease the commute for frontline staff making their way to clinics, hospitals and care homes.

On Saturday night key buildings across the UK were lit up in blue, the color of the NHS, and at 5 p.m. BST on Sunday a round of applause is scheduled to honor the sacrifices made by medical staff.

Some history: Established after World War II, the NHS has always been an institution that unifies Britons around a simple idea: public heathcare should be free for all.

Accusations have been leveled against the government that it has failed to secure sufficient personal protective equipment and to protect healthcare workers of ethnic minority backgrounds.

But when Prime Minister Boris Johnson contracted Covid-19, he was admitted to St. Thomas', a public hospital in central London, and later declared that the NHS “saved my life, no question.”

WATCH HERE:

Pope Francis has urged the swift implementation of a UN Security Council resolution that calls for a global ceasefire to help countries already wracked by hostilities to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

The resolution -- the first to pass since the coronavirus pandemic took hold -- was unanimously adopted Wednesday in a virtual vote.  

Speaking during his regularly held Sunday Angelus, Francis said: "The request for a global and immediate ceasefire, which would allow the peace and security necessary to provide the urgently needed humanitarian assistance, is commendable.

"I hope that this decision will be implemented effectively and promptly for the good of many people who are suffering. May this Security Council Resolution become a bold first step towards a peaceful future.”

Drunk people can't properly socially distance, a UK police officer warned after finishing a late shift Saturday -- the first day that pubs reopened in England after the coronavirus shutdown.

"A predictably busy night and confirmed what we knew, alcohol and social distancing is not a good combination," tweeted John Apter, national chairman of the Police Federation, a staff association for police in England and Wales.

Apter, who was on duty in the southern England city of Southampton, said he and colleagues had dealt with "happy drunks, angry drunks, fights" and antisocial behavior. "What was crystal clear is that drunk people can’t/won’t socially distance," he said.

In a post on Twitter, London's Metropolitan Police urged people to "please be responsible, stay safe and follow social distancing and other guidance that has been put in place" as pubs reopened.

But images taken Saturday night in the central London district of Soho, known for its pubs and bars, showed crowded streets.

Five pubs in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, decided to close early following anti-social behavior, police said, and officers made four arrests following reports of a smashed window and minor assault.

However, Inspector Craig Berry thanked "the majority of the public who have acted responsibly throughout Saturday."

Devon and Cornwall Police, in southwest England, said they had received more than 1,000 calls on Saturday from members of the public, mostly related to "drink related disorder."

And in Essex, southeast England, an officer tweeted to say police had made four arrests.

UK Health Minister Matt Hancock told Sky News' Sophy Ridge that he was pleased overall with how Saturday went.

"From what I have seen, although there are some pictures to the contrary, very, very largely people have acted responsibly and this balanced message is so important. People should enjoy summer safely,” he said Sunday.

“You have seen from Leicester and other places we don’t shirk from bringing in drastic measures if that is what is needed to control the virus. But the overall plan has always been through the lifting of the lockdown to try to lift the national measures -- but be absolutely crystal clear we will tackle local flare-ups when we see them."

The governor of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, Francisco Cabeza de Vaca, tweeted Saturday that hospitals run by the Mexican Institute of Social Security in Reynosa, a city bordering the United States, are too "overcrowded to receive more patients" seeking treatment for coronavirus. 

Cabeza de Vaca also used his official Twitter account Friday to urge the Mexican government to establish "greater control of the non-essential flow of people" from the United States into Mexico, noting that the coronavirus situation in neighboring Texas had reached a critical point.  

Hours later, Cabeza de Vaca wrote that in the absence of a response from central authorities, his government had intensified efforts "to stop non-essential crossings" at bridges that connect the state of Tamaulipas and the US.  

On Thursday, Cabeza de Vaca announced that he had tested positive for Covid-19.

In a video released while in isolation, Cabeza de Vaca said: "Unfortunately, we have seen a great increase in the number of infections in the cities of Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros. I think that we are neglecting many of them, we are relaxing... that is why we are taking extraordinary measures to avoid an increase in the number of infections."