July 22 coronavirus news

Maryland has conducted more than 1 million tests in the state, Gov. Larry Hogan said at a news conference on Wednesday.

The state's Department of Health reported that 1,000,179 have been conducted since the pandemic began.

At least 80,172 cases of coronavirus have been reported in the state and at least 3,276 people have died from the virus since the start of the pandemic, according to the Department of Health.

The governor added that people should continue to wear masks, social distance and practice good hygiene.

Brazil's health ministry recorded 67,860 new cases of the novel coronavirus Wednesday, its highest daily increase since the outbreak began. The country's total number of confirmed cases stands at 2,227,514.

Brazil's previous record daily increase was on June 19, when the ministry added 54,771 new cases.

The ministry also reported 1,284 new deaths from the virus Wednesday, bringing the country's death toll to 82,771.

Meanwhile, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced that he again tested positive for coronavirus Wednesday, 15 days after his initial positive test.

President Trump said he was holding solo news conferences instead of joint briefings with White House coronavirus task force members because it is a more "concise way of doing it."

He went on to say that he had just spoken to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, prior to the news conference and that he gets briefed by members of the coronavirus task force regularly.

“They’re briefing me. I’m meeting them,” Trump said when asked why he was opting to give news conferences alone.

“I just spoke to Dr. Fauci. Dr. [Deborah] Birx is right outside and they’re giving me all of everything they know as of this point in time and I’m giving the information to you and I think it’s probably a very concise way of doing it. It seems to be working out very well," he said.

On the task force in general, Trump said they are “very much involved” and touted his relationship with all members of the task force as “very good.”

“They’re very much involved. They’re very much — the relationships are all very good. The relationships that we have with the doctors with everybody working on the virus — has been I think extraordinary,” Trump said.

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President Trump said there were many causes for a spike in coronavirus cases in the US, but pointed to protests specifically, saying they “presumably triggered a broader relaxation of mitigation efforts.”

“There are likely a number of causes for the spike in infections cases,” Trump said at a news conference Wednesday. “Cases started to rise among young Americans shortly after demonstrations, which you know very well about, which presumably triggered a broader relaxation of mitigation efforts nationwide.”

It’s notable that Trump did not directly blame the protests, but said they “presumably” caused a relations in mitigation efforts. Several states were also in the process of reopening when protests started, many against guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

“Maybe beaches,” he continued, “four or five different listed places, we have 12 that are listed on the guide, likely also contributed. We're also sharing a 2000 mile border with Mexico as we know very well and cases are surging in Mexico.”

He went on: “Unfortunately, I was with the president and it's a big problem for Mexico, but cases are surging very sharply and all across the rest of the Western Hemisphere.”

Trump then touted his border wall, saying that, “257 miles of newly constructed wall along the southern border has had a great positive impact on people coming in, and we have record low numbers of people coming in illegally that's helped greatly. It was really meant for a different purpose but it worked out very well for what we're doing right now and for the pandemic.”

President Trump said he would make a decision over the next day on whether to mandate masks on federal property.

While DC Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a mandate on masks on Wednesday, it won't extend to federal buildings.

Trump repeated his support of mask wearing, and again pulled out his mask to demonstrate his willingness to wear it (though didn't actually put it on).

While Trump once mandated masks be worn by staff on the White House complex, the order expired and they are no longer mandatory for aides.

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Texas reported Wednesday 197 new Covid-19-related fatalities — the highest number of deaths recorded in a single day in the state.

The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the state now stands at 4,348. 

Texas also reported a new record number of hospitalizations in the state, with 10,893 Covid-19 patients. It surpassed Tuesday's record of 10,848 patients. 

The state reported 9,879 new positive Covid-19 cases, bringing the state's total to 351,618 cases. 

Note: These numbers were released by the Texas Department of State Health Services, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro talked with supporters outside the presidential palace in Brasilia Wednesday after again testing positive for Covid-19. 

Earlier Wednesday, Bolsonaro told CNN affiliate CNN Brasil he had tested positive again, just over two weeks after taking his initial test that came back positive on July 7. 

Bolsonaro, wearing a face mask, greeted supporters during a flag-lowering ceremony, as he has done several times since working from the presidential palace in semi-isolation.

The president did not speak about the virus during his appearance.

Peru confirmed 3,688 new Covid-19 deaths that were previously unaccounted for, according to the country's government.

The new deaths from the novel coronavirus were brought to light after an analysis by a special commission that studied 20,000 cases from March to June, Peruvian Health Minister Pilar Mazzetti Soler said in a news conference Wednesday.

"Today, according to our routine analysis, we would have 13,767 deaths and to this number, after conducting the committee's analysis, we will add 3,688 deaths," Soler said.  

With these newly confirmed deaths, Peru's death toll from the virus went from 13,767 to 17,455. This toll puts it ahead of Iran in total number of deaths from the virus worldwide. Iran has 14,853 Covid-19 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Soler said the committee will conduct another analysis for the month of July. 

"The discrepancy in information is covered until June. This committee will also evaluate a second set of data, or rather are already evaluating, so that we can have the information for July," the minister said.

The minister did not specifically mention the reason for the discrepancy in numbers, but did say the analysis is done on a case-by-case basis from 8,000 entities. 

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called on the British military to prepare for a potential four-way winter crisis, with the possibility of a second coronavirus spike, a seasonal flu outbreak, winter flooding and disruptions caused by the UK's transition out of the European Union threatening to overwhelm national resources.

Giving evidence to Parliament’s Public Services Committee on Wednesday, the Ministry of Defence’s head of military strategy and operations unit confirmed that the army is working with the UK Joint Biosecurity Centre and government officials to develop a new contingency plan.

“The [coronavirus] crisis is still very firmly with us, and definitely as we look towards the winter now…we can see the normal flu season, we’re obviously transitioning out of the EU, and we have our normal floods,” Lt. Gen. Douglas Chalmers said.

“We’re looking very heavily at how we do winter preparedness … we will support some of the departmental table-top exercising,” he added.

According to Chalmers, the army has been ordered by the prime minister’s office to develop a new contingency plan by the end of August.

“Number 10 has been very clear those table-top exercises need to be done by the end of August in order that we can learn from them and then act on some of those elements that have been brought forward,” he said.