July 20 coronavirus news

"Yes, we are having increased cases, predominantly in the sunbelt,” Admiral Brett Giroir told Alisyn Camerota on CNN’s New Day Monday. “We are having more cases that we did a week ago, two weeks ago, three weeks ago, four weeks ago – that is very clear,” he added.

Giroir, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said he would like to point out that there are probably fewer cases compared to April because of more testing, but “there is no question we are having a surge right now. We are approaching this with extreme seriousness.” 

According to Giroir, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention teams have been sent into every state, surge teams have visited 19 sites, surge testing is happening and medical professionals are being deployed across the country.

 Giroir said that masks, physical distancing and hand washing are all incredibly important.

WATCH:

As US cities and states navigate their next steps to combat the rapid spread of Covid-19, unwanted records keep getting smashed.

Here are some hotspots that broke records over the weekend:

Meanwhile, at least 31 states are seeing an increase in new cases compared to the previous week. Here's a look at where cases are rising across the country:

As of Monday morning, 9,362 people are hospitalized in the state of Florida due to coronavirus related illness, according to data released by Florida's Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA). 

The three hardest hit southern counties in the state are: Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County. Miami-Dade has recorded 2,008 hospitalizations. Broward County is seeing 1,240 hospitalizations and Palm Beach has recorded 618, according to AHCA.

More than 3 million people in Florida have been tested for Covid-19, with at least 350,047 testing positive.

The overall positivity rate as of 7:30 a.m. ET today is 18.7% up from 18.2% on Sunday, according to the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. 

Watch Jackson Health System President & CEO:

Surgeon General Jerome Adams echoed President Trump, saying he does not think a national mask mandate is necessary, but at the same time urged all Americans to continue to wear face coverings. 

Asked about a national mask mandate, Adams said “in many cases we are letting the politics and the policy get in the way of the actual practice.” Adams said that the science shows that wearing masks will allow for America to reopen and stay open sooner. 

The surgeon general said he believes a mandate would work better at a local and state level than a federal level because if there was a federal mandate, there would need to be a way for the federal government to enforce it. 

“If you are going to have a federal mandate you have to have a federal enforcement mechanism and right now as scientist and an educator, I would rather help people understand why they should cooperate with wearing a mask and how they benefit from it, versus just simply saying we are going to force you to do it, particularly by sending in federal troops or using federal mechanisms,” Adams said.

What Trump has said: In an interview with Fox that aired Sunday, President Trump said he does not feel a national mask mandate is necessary because he wants people to “have a certain freedom”

Trump said over the weekend that he does not believe the disease will go away if everyone wears masks.

The novel coronavirus has infected 14.5 million people worldwide and killed at least 606,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally. Here's the latest on the Covid-19 pandemic.

India cases surge: The country has recorded 40,425 new virus cases in the past 24 hours, the highest daily increase since the outbreak began.

Brazil's leader greets supporters despite being positive for Covid-19: Jair Bolsonaro took a walk on the grounds of his presidential palace Sunday and greeted crowds despite his diagnosis. Supporters were separated from the President by a small water canal, but two people crossed over to his side. One man helped another, who appeared to have a physical disability, walk close to the President for a greeting.

Hong Kong reports 73 new cases Monday: City officials are struggling to get new outbreaks under control. Among 66 locally transmitted cases, 27 were untraceable. 

Demonstrators protest mask law in London: Hundreds of people gathered in the city on Sunday to protest against the wearing of face masks, days before it becomes mandatory to wear them in stores in England.

Xinjiang capital in "wartime" lockdown: A "wartime" state has been declared in the capital of Xinjiang, home to China's persecuted Muslim-majority Uyghur ethnic group, after 17 local infections were recorded on Sunday.

China's massive box office began to reopen on Monday after the coronavirus pandemic spurred a shutdown lasting roughly six months.

The China Film Administration announced late last week that movie theaters in "low-risk" areas could reopen from Monday with a few precautions. Audience members are required to wear masks and take temperature checks, and cinemas are expected to operate at 30% capacity. Eating and drinking in the theater is also prohibited.

The "low-risk" requirement effectively means that most of the country should be able to reopen cinemas, according to the Global Times, a state-run tabloid.

Ticket sales for Monday's box office surpassed 2.8 million yuan ($400,000) just before 5 pm local time, according to Maoyan, a major Chinese ticketing platform.

The Chinese film "A First Farewell," about a boy from Xinjiang, along with the 2017 Pixar film "Coco" and the Chinese thriller "Sheep Without A Shepherd" grossed the most in pre-sales, according to the Global Times.

China is home to a huge movie industry that generated more than $9 billion in box office sales last year — second only to the United States.

Read more here.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in London on Sunday to protest against the wearing of face masks, days before it becomes mandatory to wear face coverings in stores in England.

A small crowd descended on Hyde Park in central London to voice their opposition to masks after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced it will become compulsory to wear them in shops from Friday.

Some protesters waved placards referring to masks as "mind control" devices, while others were pictured promoting baseless conspiracy theories including the flat earth theory and a supposed link between 5G and Covid-19. Several demonstrators wore masks to illustrate their opposition to face masks.

The gathering was organized by a group called Keep Britain Free, which claims on its website to support: "Freedom of speech, choice and thought."

A number of studies have found that the coronavirus spreads mainly via airborne transmission and wearing a mask is the most effective way to stop person-to-person spread.

Read more here.

Hong Kong reported 73 new coronavirus cases on Monday, seven of which were imported, bringing the city's tally to 1,958, health officials said.

Among the 66 locally transmitted cases, 27 were untraceable. 

The newly confirmed cases are mainly related to previous cluster outbreaks in the city. Two of the new cases were linked to a large birthday party, one case was linked to an outbreak centered on a clinic and more were recorded in the city's Tsz Wan Shan neighborhood.

Twenty-four of the new cases were transmitted between family members.

Cases are rising sharply in Hong Kong, which recorded more than 170 cases over the last weekend.

Dr. Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said officials needed a few more days to understand the trend in numbers.

She added that if cases continued to rise, more stringent measures for epidemic control will be enforced.

Over the weekend, Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam extended social distancing measures and announced non-essential civil servants will be required to work from home.

French President Emanuel Macron "slammed his fist on the table" in anger during crunch overnight talks on the EU coronavirus recovery fund, French officials told CNN.

The officials said there had been a "tough moment last night" as European leaders struggle to reach an agreement on the recovery plan after three days of talks.

The Elysee Palace later claimed that Macron had only "metaphorically" slammed the table, but acknowledged that he had lost his patience during negotiations.

The bloc's members have so far failed to reach a deal.

At the center of discussions is a proposal put forward by the European Commission in May. That plan would see the Commission raise €750 billion ($857 billion) on financial markets, alongside the regular EU budget for 2021-27.

Under that plan, two-thirds of the recovery funds would be distributed to countries via grants, while the remainder would be offered as loans.

But Austria, Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden -- the so-called "frugal" countries - opposed the idea of issuing grants and now want strict conditions attached to them.

France and Germany have worked together to "mobilize their partners for an agreement" French officials said, with Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel doing "everything to bring the most reluctant countries to agree to €400 billion ($450bn) [in subsidies]."

The officials claimed that after the Franco-German intervention the "frugal" countries started to "budge slightly," and that there was now an avenue open for a possible agreement.

A short plenary session was held at 5:30 a.m. local time in Brussels (11:30 p.m. ET Sunday) and a new proposal will be presented at 4 p.m. in Belgium (10 a.m. ET) on Monday, French officials said.

This post has been updated.