July 12 coronavirus news

There were 3,322 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 18 new deaths reported Sunday in Los Angeles, according to a press release from the LA County Department of Public Health.

This is second highest daily case count reported in the last week. The agency reported 4,015 new cases on July 7, the largest single day case count increase, which they attributed to a backlog of test results.

There are currently 2,093 people hospitalized with 26% being confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the ICU and 19% confirmed cases on ventilators, the release said.

"This remains substantially higher than the 1,350 to 1,450 daily hospitalizations seen four weeks ago," the release said.

Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell has been released from a Rhode Island hospital after admitting himself due to a Covid-19 diagnosis, according to a statement on the team’s website.

Bidwell issued a statement expressing his appreciation for front line workers as well as his team’s fan base. He said he is fortunate to have the experience behind him and encouraged people to take measures to avoid contracting the virus.

Bidwell’s full statement:

Toronto Mayor John Tory says negotiations are ongoing between government, public health officials and the Blue Jays’ management team to strike a deal that will see the city's major league baseball team play its home games in Toronto. 

At issue, strict Canadian quarantine procedures that would see players and staff restricted to a "bubble" between their training facility and stadium at Toronto’s Rogers Centre and an adjoining hotel. 

The Blue Jays are currently training in Toronto and are observing the stadium-to-hotel quarantine, but some players have taken to social media to express their concerns about the quarantine rules lasting for the entire season. 

MLB is already requesting an exemption for its players entering Canada so they do not have to quarantine for 14 days, but will instead follow restrictions and continue to stay within the stadium-to-hotel bubble. 

The US-Canada border remains closed to non-essential travel until at least July 21.

On Friday, Blue Jays infielder Travis Shaw tweeted that staying in a restrictive bubble between the stadium and the hotel was not sustainable.

Shaw and a few other players have expressed concern that the restrictions are too much of a burden, especially on their families. 

Toronto's first home game of 2020 is currently scheduled for July 29 at the Rogers Centre. 

There are at least 3,286,025 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 135,089 people have died in the US from coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases in the United States, .  

As of 5 p.m. ET Sunday, 40,100 new cases and 312 new deaths have been reported in the US.

The totals includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other U.S. territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

CNN has an interactive map tracking cases across the country.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego told CNN’s Dana Bash that coronavirus positivity rates and record-setting ventilator usage by Covid-19 patients continue to plague the greater Phoenix area.

Gallego also said that Federal funding and testing could not “come a moment too soon” as her city had huge issues with testing for coronavirus.

“We have had people waiting, eight, 10, 13 hours” to get tested, Gallego said.

Gallego said she’s joined other mayors from across the state of Arizona in asking Gov. Doug Ducey to put significant expansion and safety precautions in regards to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We do not have a statewide requirement for facial coverings in Arizona,” Gallego said.

When asked about school reopenings, Gallego said the city has a separately elected school board and many of those elected leaders are saying schools can’t open until at least October with the level of the virus so pronounced in the community.

“They just don’t feel like it is a safe environment for teachers to go in and they are concerned about our students as well as spread of the virus,” Gallego said.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described the resurgence of coronavirus in Iran as “truly sad” and encouraged citizens to take appropriate measures to help contain the outbreak. 

Khamenei told lawmakers in a video call Sunday that citizens should “play their role in the best way to shorten the chain of transmission in the short term to bring the country to the shore of salvation," according to Khamenei's office.

Iran reported 184 new coronavirus related deaths on Sunday. The death toll brings the nationwide total to 12,829 fatalities, according to Iran’s Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadaat Lari, who was speaking on state television. 

She announced 2,186 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections in Iran to 257,303. There are a total of 3,359 patients are in ICU and in critical condition.

Iran said 219,993 people who had tested positive for the Covid-19 virus have recovered.

South Africa will resume a ban on alcohol sales and reinstate a daily curfew to free up hospital capacity as the country’s Covid-19 cases continue to rise.

Gauteng Province, the home of the commercial hub of Johannesburg and the country’s capital, Pretoria, is leading the surge as it fast approaches 100,000 confirmed cases. 

What the numbers say: South Africa has recorded more than 12,000 new Covid-19 infections every day, equivalent to 500 new cases every hour. A quarter of South Africa’s more than 4,000 coronavirus deaths have occurred in the last week. 

Ramaphosa said it was projected that 40,000 to 50,00 South Africans could die from the virus within the year.

“We must make it our single most important task to prove these projections wrong,” Ramaphosa said. 

He highlighted the success of treatment interventions and a stringent lockdown for keeping South Africa’s 1.5% case fatality rate among the lowest in the world. 

As the country’s pandemic stretches into its fourth month, the healthcare shortfalls across South Africa are becoming clear, including the need for more than 12,000 health workers, mostly nurses. 

“Our greatest challenge still lies ahead,” Ramaphosa said. “Health facilities in several provinces are already under tremendous strain.”  

The total number of test results reported yesterday in South Carolina was 8,769 with the percent positive of those tests being 22.3%, according to a news release from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control issued Sunday. 

A total of 538,022 tests have been conducted in the state, according to the release.

There were 1,952 new cases of coronavirus and 10 new deaths reported for a total of 56,485 confirmed cases and 163 probable cases. There was also 950 confirmed deaths and 11 probable deaths statewide, the release said. 

Over the past 24 hours, 230,370 new cases of Covid-19 worldwide have been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) according to Sunday’s report. That brings the total number of cases reported to WHO from around the world to 12,552,765.

The previous record for cases reported to WHO in a 24-hour period was on July 10 with 228,102 new cases.

Sunday’s report also had 5,285 additional deaths in the past 24 hours from the virus worldwide, bringing the global death toll to 561,617, according to WHO.