July 14 coronavirus news

Florida health officials reported 132 Covid-19-related deaths on Tuesday, breaking the record for most deaths in a single day due to coronavirus, according to numbers released by the state's Department of Health.

The previous record for coronavirus-related deaths in one day was 120 deaths reported on July 9. 

One thing to note: These numbers were released by Florida's public health agency, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

WATCH:

Israel crossed 41,000 coronavirus cases, according to the Ministry of Health, as the country set a new single-day record for infections with 1,681 people testing positive on Monday.

Almost a quarter of the total number of cases have come within the last week, as Israel has averaged more than 1,000 new cases a day. The number of patients in serious condition has also nearly doubled from 93 to 177 in the last week.

As of Tuesday morning, Israel has 41,235 confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to the Ministry of Health, and 368 people have died as a result of the disease.

The Palestinian Authority has also seen a significant rise in cases, with 293 new cases on Tuesday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. There have been 7,734 total cases since the beginning of the outbreak, the Ministry said, and 45 people have died as a result of the disease.

Officials in Fort Bend County, Texas, said today that the county is elevating its risk alert status to red — the highest level category — effective immediately. 

Fort Bend County is located southwest of Houston and is part of the Houston-metro area.

Cases have seen a sharp increase over the past month, according to Judge KP George. He said the county has had at least 5,015 total positive cases, with at least 2,613 of those cases reported since June 30.

George said that the red category means the county is in the highest possible level of risk and asks for all residents to assume personal responsibility in helping mitigate the virus. It translates to stay home, stay safe guidance, according to the county website. After 14 days of improvement on the indicators, including decreased daily hospital and intensive care unit admissions as well as a decreased trend in deaths, the county can downgrade to orange, according to the guidance posted online. 

Meanwhile, the Fort Bend Independent School District said it will start the school year with online-only learning.

According to an announcement, this will "give students, parents and staff an opportunity to adjust to online learning and safety procedures." The district also announced that all in-person extracurricular activities — including all athletics and fine arts — will not be allowed to take place during this time.   

The Board of Trustees met via Zoom on Monday night to vote on the changes to the start of the school year. The first day of school is Aug. 12 in the district. 

They said during the meeting that they will phase-in face-to-face student groups over time and based on guidance from local health officials, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others. 

Five people across New York died from coronavirus Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office announced today, bringing the statewide death toll to at least 24,994.

More than 900 the 60,045 — or 1.5% — of the tests conducted across the state were positive, bringing the statewide total of confirmed cases to 403,175.

One thing to note: These numbers were released by the state and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Colombia's largest cities have reimposed lockdown measures, after a surge in cases during the last seven days pushed the Latin American country beyond 150,000 total cases.   

Colombia is currently the 5th most affected country with Covid-19 cases in Latin America and more than 20% of total cases were registered in the last seven days, including a record 6,803 new cases last Friday, according to data collected by the Colombian Health Ministry.

On Monday evening, the country reported 3,832 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases to 154,277. The death toll stands at at least 5,455.  

In Bogota, the capital city where more than 30% of cases were registered, local mayor Claudia López announced a localized lockdown, dividing the city into three areas that will go under total lockdown on a two-week rotation.

During the lockdown in these areas, only essential shops are allowed to open and only a single member per family is allowed to leave the house to buy food, medicine and other supplies. 

Medellin, Colombia's second largest city, also reimposed a partial lockdown Monday, despite it having one of the lowest increase of Covid-19 earlier in the pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic remains highly localized in Colombia. Two key areas, Bogota and the north Atlantic coast, account for more than 50% of total registered cases, while several regions have registered only a limited amount of cases, according to data by the Colombian Health Ministry. 

The Colombian government is under pressure to open up new parts of the economy, especially in regions that have not seen a surge in cases in order to limit economic damage triggered by the lockdown. 

Unemployment has more than doubled in Colombian urban areas reaching almost 25% in May, according to DANE, the country’s National Administrative Department of Statistics. 

Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin have been added to the list of states included in New York’s travel advisory requiring individuals traveling to the Empire State from those locations to quarantine for 14 days, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in a press statement Tuesday morning.

The statement notes: "Yesterday, Governor Cuomo announced a travel enforcement operation will commence today at airports across the state to help ensure travelers are following the state's quarantine restrictions and to help contain the rates of COVID-19 transmission in New York State."

Here is the updated list of states included in the travel advisory:

Note: Delaware has been removed from New York's travel advisory, per the governor's office.

Ecuador's Galapagos islands' tourist sites have reopened to visitors, the country’s Ministry of Environment and Water said in a statement today.

Tourists will have to wear masks and use disinfectant gel when visiting the UNESCO World Heritage site, the statement notes, adding that visits to recreational places near the ports, will be restricted to three hours, maximum .

The Galapagos were closed to all visitors starting on March 16, in an effort to control the spread of Covid-19.

At least 183 land and marine sites of the Galapagos National Park have reopened, according to the ministry of environment.

The Galapagos are home to some of the most unique and scientifically significant ecosystems on earth. The archipelago of 127 islands, is about 1,000 kilometers, or 600 miles off Ecuador’s coast in the Pacific Ocean.

The Galapagos Islands are one of the world's premier destinations for wildlife viewing. However, conservationists have increasingly voiced concern that the Galapagos and its delicate ecosystem are under threat from over-tourism. 

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves is urging people in his state to weak masks and spoke out against residents in the state who don’t believe in the reality of coronavirus.

“The President is wearing a mask. I’m wearing a mask. We’re all doing it. It’s got to happen, or we’re going to find ourselves in a place as bad as we can imagine,” Tate wrote in one Facebook post. 

President Trump had long refused to wear a mask in public but this weekend, he finally wore one in front of cameras during a visit to wounded service members at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. 

In a subsequent post on Facebook Reeves, spoke to people who refuse to wear masks or speak out against face coverings saying, “mask-shaming in either direction is dumb and counterproductive.”

He ended the post with a unifying message saying, “Our enemy is the virus - NOT EACH OTHER!”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it is “absolutely urgent” to approve a new coronavirus stimulus package. During an interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto on Tuesday, she reiterated the Democratic priorities, including extending enhanced unemployment insurance benefits and sending another round of direct payments to Americans.

Asked if she is willing to consider Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s demand that liability protections be included for businesses, Pelosi said Republicans should instead join Democrats in approving an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provision to protect workers.

She also said she is willing to cut into the planned August recess to get the bill finalized.

“Oh we absolutely have to,” she said. “The timetable is the timetable of the American people."

Regrading the surging cases across the country, Pelosi said local leaders should look to other countries that shut down seriously to begin with and were able to stop the spread of the coronavirus, as states across the US experience surges after taking steps to open up.

She said it’s a regional decision, but “unless you have a very, very low percentage of incidence of the infection, you really have to consider locking down.”

Asked if California opened too quickly, Pelosi said she believes Gov. Gavin Newsom “has done an excellent job,” but she added that he was under pressure from different regions of the state that were experiencing the virus differently.

Watch Speaker Pelosi on liability protections: