July 6 coronavirus news

New York City enters phase three of its Covid-19 reopening today. In a news release yesterday, the governor reiterated that indoor dining will not be a part of this reopening. 

The governor urged everyone in the state to wear a mask, socially distance, use hand sanitizer and "continue the smart practices that have made our state a national leader in combatting this virus."

"I also remind local governments of their duty to enforce the standards that have made NY's reopening safe and successful," Cuomo said in the statement.

Phase three of reopening allows sports and recreation to resume, including city basketball courts, tennis courts, volleyball, dog runs, handball and bocce, according to the city's mayor.

Latest state numbers: New York added 533 cases Saturday, with .84 percent positivity rate. The state reported 8 deaths.

Kenya will begin a phased reopening of the country by lifting a travel ban in and out of the capital Nairobi and the coastal city of Mombasa starting tomorrow, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced in a televised address Monday. 

Domestic air travel will resume starting on July 15, while international travel in and out of Kenya is set to resume Aug. 1.

Places of worship will be allowed to re-open with a strict maximum capacity of 100 congregants for ceremonies of up to one hour.

 The daily national dusk-to-dawn curfew has been extended for another 30 days, until Aug. 5, Kenyatta said.

The latest numbers: On Saturday, Kenya registered its highest single-day caseload with 389 new cases reported, according to the country's Ministry of Health.

Despite an increase of reported infections in recent days, Kenyatta assured "we have reached a reasonable level of preparedness across the country to allow us to re-open." 

So far, Kenya has 7,886 confirmed cases and 160 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health. 

 "Should the situation deteriorate and pose a challenge to our health infrastructure, it shall be clawed back," Kenyatta said about the phased re-opening. 

Late stage clinical trials of REGN-COV2, a combination antibody treatment for Covid-19 from Regeneron, have begun, according to a news release from the company today.

The phase three trials will be evaluating the ability of the drug to prevent infection among uninfected people who have had close contact to an infected person, such as a patient’s housemate. 

The prevention trial is happening at around 100 sites and is expected to include 2,000 US patients. 

The drug has also moved into the phase two/three portion of two trials testing its ability to treat hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients with Covid-19. These trials will involve 1,850 hospitalized patients and 1,050 non-hospitalized patients, and they are expected to be conducted at 150 sites in the United States, Brazil, Mexico and Chile.

The trials are being jointly run with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. 

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Pilgrims seeking to perform Hajj this year will have to wear masks and observe social distancing rules at all times, under measures imposed by Saudi Arabia, state media reported Monday. 

Under the restrictions, pilgrims must remain at least 1.5 meters apart, including during the ritual circling of the Ka'aba known as tawaf. Crowding and pushing will be prohibited, Saudi’s official news agency (SPA) said. 

The kingdom is barring entry to holy sites including Mina, Mozdalefah and Arafat to those without a permit some 10 days before Hajj officially begins and until the Hajj season ends on August 2, according to SPA.

Congregational prayers will be performed while worshippers wear masks and practice social distancing; a contrast to how these prayers are normally carried out in accordance with Islamic rites. 

Health checks will be carried out at bus stops, places of residence, and other vital areas, with medical teams available on stand-by around the clock, SPA said. 

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia reported 3,580 new cases of coronavirus and 58 deaths in 24 hours, bringing its total number to 209,509 cases and its death toll to 1,916. 

Spain's large-scale coronavirus study indicates that just 5% of its population has developed antibodies, strengthening evidence that a so-called herd immunity to Covid-19 is "unachievable," medical journal the Lancet reported on Monday.

The findings show that 95% of Spain's population remains susceptible to the virus.

Herd immunity is achieved when enough of a population has become infected with a virus or bacteria -- or vaccinated against it -- to stop its circulation.

The European Center for Disease Control told CNN that Spain's research, on a nationwide representative sample of more than 61,000 participants, appears to be the largest study to date among a dozen serological studies on the coronavirus undertaken by European nations.

It adds to the findings of an antibody study involving 2,766 participants in Geneva, Switzerland, published in the Lancet on June 11.

"In light of these findings, any proposed approach to achieve herd immunity through natural infection is not only highly unethical, but also unachievable," said the Lancet's commentary authors, Isabella Eckerle, head of the Geneva Centre for Emerging Viral Diseases, and Benjamin Meyer, a virologist at the University of Geneva.

Doctors are uncertain whether having antibodies to the coronavirus means someone cannot be infected again. It's not clear how long or how well antibodies protect people from the virus.

Spain's peer-reviewed study began in April while the nation remained on a strict lockdown, and was conducted by leading government research and epidemiological agencies.

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Peru's Ministry of Health reported 3,635 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the country's total to 302,718. 

More than half of Peru's cases have been reported in the capital Lima, with 165,307 coronavirus cases to date. The Ministry of Health also confirmed 11,302 hospitalizations and 10,589 deaths across the country.  

Over the past week, Peru has had a daily average of 3,328 Covid-19 infections and 183 deaths. The daily numbers have not shown much variation in the past two weeks.

The director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr Carissa Etienne, said last week that Peru is expected to see a peak in infections "at some point in August." 

Peru is the second hardest-hit country by Covid-19 in Latin America -- behind Brazil, which has reported more than 1,600,000 total cases. 

As health services around the world continue to focus resources on ending the coronavirus pandemic, they threaten to derail decades of hard-won progress tackling diseases like HIV and tuberculosis, according to a new report by the International AIDS Society.

The society plans to raise its concerns during the 23rd International AIDS conference, which began Monday.

"The social distancing efforts and lockdowns to control the spread of it [coronavirus], have disrupted HIV prevention and treatment programs and put vital HIV research on hold," said Dr. Anton Pozniak, president of the International AIDS Society, last week.

A survey released in June by the NGO Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria found that across 106 of the countries it works in, 85% had reported disruptions to their HIV services, 78% to tuberculosis services, and 73% to malaria services. Nearly 20% reported severe disruptions for all three diseases.

For example, recent models commissioned by the World Health Organization and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated that a six-month disruption to services in sub-Saharan Africa alone could lead to an extra 500,000 deaths from AIDS-related illnesses in 2021. This is on top of a likely 470,000 deaths that would have occurred, based on 2018 numbers.

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UK cultural and heritage organizations will receive a £1.57 billion ($1.96 billion) support package "to help weather the impact of coronavirus," the government announced late Sunday.

Britain's museums, galleries, theatres, independent cinemas, heritage sites and music venues have been closed since the end of March, when the country's lockdown began.

The emergency fund will help cultural and heritage institutions "stay afloat while their doors are closed. Funding to restart paused projects will also help support employment, including freelancers working in these sectors," the government said.

Jackson Health System has seen an 83 percent increase in Covid-19 patients over the past two weeks, according to data posted by the hospital system on Twitter.

On June 21, Jackson Health reported 182 Covid-19 patients. By Sunday, they were reporting 333.

Jackson Health System is a nonprofit academic medical system.

The state of Florida does not release the total number of daily Covid-19 patients in the state.

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