July 18 coronavirus news

By Nectar Gan, Brett McKeehan, Tara John, Alaa Elassar, Veronica Rocha and Amir Vera, CNN

Updated 0427 GMT (1227 HKT) July 19, 2020
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1:56 a.m. ET, July 18, 2020

More than half of this Texas prison's 1,798 inmates have tested positive for the coronavirus

The Federal Bureau of Prisons reported on Friday that 1,072 inmates have tested positive for Covid-19 in Seagoville Federal Correctional Institution in Texas.

The facility is a low-security institution with an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp and a detention center. It has a total population of 1,798 inmates, according to its website

The Federal Bureau of Prisons stated on its website that it began additional testing of asymptomatic inmates to assist in "slowing transmissions within a correctional setting."

1:56 a.m. ET, July 18, 2020

Colombia reports record number of Covid-19 deaths for second consecutive day

From CNN's Stefano Pozzebon

Soldiers patrol a neighborhood in Bogota, Colombia, on July 13.
Soldiers patrol a neighborhood in Bogota, Colombia, on July 13. Fernando Vergara/AP

Colombia's health ministry reported a record 8,934 new coronavirus cases on Friday -- taking the country's total number of infections to 182,140 since the pandemic began.

The ministry reported another 259 related deaths, also a record. Colombia's death toll now stands at 6,288.

The rising case numbers come as President Ivan Duque resists calls to impose a total lockdown in the country’s most affected areas.

1:33 a.m. ET, July 18, 2020

China reports 22 new coronavirus cases, including 16 in Xinjiang

From CNN's Shanshan Wang and Isaac Yee

A worker pushes a cart loaded with bottles of drinking water in Beijing on July 17.
A worker pushes a cart loaded with bottles of drinking water in Beijing on July 17. Mark Schiefelbein/AP

China reported 22 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the country’s National Health Commission (NHC) announced on Saturday.

Of the new cases, 16 were local infections found in the western region of Xinjiang, according to the NHC. The other six were imported.

Authorities are on high alert after a reemergence of the virus in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital, on Thursday. The region hadn't reported any new local infections for months.

On Friday, the state-run Global Times reported that almost 90% of flights in Urumqi were canceled, after the city reported six confirmed cases.

China also reported 14 asymptomatic cases Friday, according to the NHC.

1:29 a.m. ET, July 18, 2020

85 babies have tested positive for Covid-19 in one Texas county

This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses.
This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Corpus Christi Nueces County Director of Public Health Annette Rodriguez said Friday that 85 babies under the age of one have tested positive for Covid-19 there. 

"I have been reviewing statistics. We currently have 85 babies, under the age of one year in Nueces County, that have all tested positive for Covid-19," Rodriguez said in a Public Health District meeting. "These babies have not even had their first birthday yet."

Earlier in the meeting, Corpus Christi city manager Peter Zanoni discussed the spike in cases in Nueces County. 

"Amongst metropolitan counties in Texas, Nueces County has the fastest growing, the fastest case growth in new cases right now on the seven-day average than any other metropolitan county in the state," he said. "And that's a problem."

Corpus Christi has a total of 8,171 Covid-19 cases, with 82 related deaths.