July 23 coronavirus news

By Ben Westcott, Brad Lendon, Ed Upright, Meg Wagner and Melissa Macaya, CNN

Updated 12:09 a.m. ET, July 24, 2020
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9:11 a.m. ET, July 23, 2020

France to give 40 million face masks to poorest citizens

From Niamh Kennedy

French Health Minister Olivier Véran is pictured as he arrives at a conference in Paris on July 17.
French Health Minister Olivier Véran is pictured as he arrives at a conference in Paris on July 17. Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images

France will distribute 40 million face masks to the country's poorest citizens, Health Minister Olivier Véran told television station France 2 on Wednesday.

The free and reusable masks will be sent to “7 million French people on the threshold of poverty,” Véran said. 

Those receiving state financial aid to help pay for medical expenses will get the masks, Véran added, noting that the face coverings are washable and can be worn up to 30 times.

They will be posted directly to those who qualify for them, he said.

Mask-wearing was made compulsory in all indoor public spaces in France on Monday. French police officers have the power to fine citizens €135 ($156) for not abiding by the rules.

8:45 a.m. ET, July 23, 2020

Trump undermines new virus strategy by hiding experts and facts

Analysis from CNN's Stephen Collinson

President Donald Trump talks to journalists during a July 22 news conference at the White House about his administration's response to the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic.
President Donald Trump talks to journalists during a July 22 news conference at the White House about his administration's response to the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Donald Trump's new political self-preservation effort to show he has a grip on a pandemic that is killing hundreds of Americans every day is being exposed by his refusal to share the stage with scientific experts -- or the facts.

On a day that laid bare his refashioned campaign strategy, Trump hammered out a tough law-and-order push, escalated a Cold War with China and tried to show he is managing the fight against Covid-19 after weeks of neglect.

The President has been flailing for days, as a vicious surge in infections races across the sunbelt, caused in part by governors who heeded his calls to open states before the pathogen was suppressed.

With one poll showing him down 20 points to Democratic presumptive nominee Joe Biden on who can best handle the situation, Trump has taken the rare step of performing a partial reversal -- on the wearing of masks -- though he is still reluctant to model one in public. He also decided that outright denial of the worst public health crisis in 100 years was not working and has returned to the White House briefing room to spin the disaster as best he can.

Read the full article here.

8:45 a.m. ET, July 23, 2020

Record number of virus cases reported in Tokyo  

From CNN's Junko Ogura 

People walk across Tokyo's Shibuya pedestrian crossing on Tuesday.
People walk across Tokyo's Shibuya pedestrian crossing on Tuesday. Eugene Hoshiko/AP

Tokyo reported 366 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the city's governor Yuriko Koike said.

The figure is the highest on record for the Japanese capital, as the Olympic host city marks exactly a year before the rescheduled 2020 games are due to begin. 

Koike said about 5,000 virus tests had been conducted across the city.

She added that 60% of the positive cases are in people aged in their 20s and 30s.

The latest Tokyo case numbers come a day after Japan reported 796 new cases on Wednesday, another record increase for the country as a whole.

8:44 a.m. ET, July 23, 2020

Covid-19 is causing havoc in Arab world, UN says

From CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is pictured during a virtual press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, on April 30.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is pictured during a virtual press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, on April 30. Xie E/Xinhua/Getty Images

The coronavirus pandemic is "wreaking havoc" across Arab countries, the United Nations (UN) warned Thursday.

The UN said cases were rising alarmingly across the region, with 55 million people at risk from the virus and in need of humanitarian assistance.

Among this group are 26 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), ​the UN said.

The organization's Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement that the pandemic had caused "an estimated 5% contraction in the [region's] economy," with "one-quarter of the population falling into poverty [and] 17 million jobs lost when 14.3 million adults of working age were already unemployed." 

But Guterres said the crisis could "also be a moment for resolving long-standing conflicts and addressing structural weaknesses" and urged Arab countries to take rapid measures to face the crisis.

"Now is the time to take immediate measures to slow the spread of the disease, end the conflict and meet the urgent needs of the most vulnerable," he said.

Guterres called for greater investment in "universal health and education; social protection floors; and technology," with a particular focus on ensuring greater rights for women and more opportunities for the region's young people.

"Together, we can turn a crisis into an opportunity. It will be good for the region -- and good for our world," he said.

8:44 a.m. ET, July 23, 2020

Britain prepares for four-way winter crisis

From CNN's Sarah Dean and Nada Bashir

Lt. Gen. Douglas Chalmers speaks before the UK House of Lords Public Services Committee, on Wednesday, July 22.
Lt. Gen. Douglas Chalmers speaks before the UK House of Lords Public Services Committee, on Wednesday, July 22. House of Lords/parliamentlive.tv

The UK is preparing for multiple crises this winter, with the possibility of a second coronavirus spike, a flu outbreak, winter flooding and disruptions caused by the Brexit transition threatening to overwhelm national resources, a senior military official has said.

“The [Covid-19] crisis is still very firmly with us and definitely as we look towards the winter now we … can see the normal flu season [approaching], we’re obviously transitioning out of the EU and we [will] have our normal floods," Lt. Gen. Douglas Chalmers, the Ministry of Defence’s head of military strategy and operations unit, said Wednesday.

Chalmers was giving evidence before the UK House of Lords Public Services Committee.

He confirmed that the army was working with the UK Joint Biosecurity Centre and government officials to develop a new contingency plan. 

“We’re looking very heavily about how we do winter preparedness," he said.

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 ... 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.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has struck an optimistic tone when discussing the coming winter in public speeches. The UK leader announced a further easing of England's lockdown restrictions last week and said his government was "hoping for the best, but planning for the worst."

Meanwhile, the UK and the European Union appear to have made little progress so far in negotiations over their future relationship.

4:42 a.m. ET, July 23, 2020

South Korea falls into recession amid coronavirus fallout

From CNN Business's Jill Disis

A man walks past a commercial sign at a shopping district in Seoul on July 23.
A man walks past a commercial sign at a shopping district in Seoul on July 23. Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty Images

South Korea has fallen into recession as the coronavirus pandemic takes a toll on all of the world’s major economies. 

The Asian economy shrank 3.3% in the April-to-June period compared to a quarter prior, the Bank of Korea announced Thursday. It marked a second straight quarter of declines. 

“While the recovery is already underway, it is likely to be slow going in the months ahead as the external environment only improves gradually,” wrote Alex Holmes, Asia economist for Capital Economics, in a research note. He noted that the drop in exports was the largest since 1963.
“We don’t think it will be until next year that output regains its pre-crisis level.”

Major world economies are struggling as the pandemic cripples industry and forces people to stay in their homes. Japan entered recession earlier this year — that country was already struggling before the outbreak because of a sales tax hike and the aftermath of a powerful typhoon.

China’s economy, meanwhile, averted recession by growing last quarter. But the data still suggested that the recovery is slow, and that people are still nervous about leaving their homes.

8:16 a.m. ET, July 23, 2020

The US reported more Covid-19 cases in the last two weeks than it did for all of June

From CNN's Christina Maxouris

A nurse seals a specimen bag containing a Covid-19 test swab at a mobile clinic set up in South Los Angeles on July 15.
A nurse seals a specimen bag containing a Covid-19 test swab at a mobile clinic set up in South Los Angeles on July 15. Mario Tama/Getty Images

n the past two weeks, the US recorded more than 915,000 new cases of coronavirus -- that's more than the cases reported across the country for the whole month of June.

The staggering number signals the US is still far from containing the virus, which is running rampant across American communities, overwhelming hospitals and testing labs. The spread has promised a bleak outlook for the months ahead, according to both health officials and the President. And experts have highlighted the actual number of infections is likely much higher than the reported cases.

That comes as some US leaders have now admitted parts of the country reopened too soon. And as they did, residents were too quick to jump back to old habits: crowding bars, packing beaches on hot summer days, holding barbeques and spending holidays with friends.

The surge in new cases across the South and Southwest has now been linked back to Americans' travel around Memorial Day and reopenings, White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said Wednesday.

Read more here:

4:29 a.m. ET, July 23, 2020

Trump could learn from Europe's leaders, who've begun charting a recovery from Covid-19

Opinion by David A. Andelman

Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte (left) looks on next to Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel (2nd from left), President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (2nd from right) and France's President Emmanuel Macron (right) prior the start of the European Council building in Brussels, on July 18.
Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte (left) looks on next to Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel (2nd from left), President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (2nd from right) and France's President Emmanuel Macron (right) prior the start of the European Council building in Brussels, on July 18. Francisco Seco/Pool/AFP/Getty Images

Editor's note: The views expressed in this commentary are the author's own. View more opinion on CNN.

It was the first time Europe's leaders had seen each other face to face since the pandemic swept across the continent, shredding the European Union and causing untold pain and economic suffering, followed in most quarters by a recovery unlike anything experienced in the United States.

With 27 different agendas, it was a model of how to deal with a critical issue of money.

Late on Monday, there was unanimity on the largest financial project ever attempted on the continent -- a total recovery package of $858 billion.

Many of the rifts, between rich and poor nations, those with true democracies and others verging on autocracies, were papered over.

But in the end, in a model that should be examined closely as Washington strives desperately to work toward similar compromises, this one worked.

Read more here:

3:15 a.m. ET, July 23, 2020

US military bases in Japan report 14 more cases at known cluster sites

From CNN's Junko Ogura in Tokyo

Fourteen new cases of Covid-19 have been reported at US military bases in Japan today, according to Okinawa prefectural government. 

Okinawa's prefectural government said that 13 cases came from the United States Marine Corps base Camp Hansen and one case in Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. 

These two military sites on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa have reported a cluster of infections in the last few weeks. 

A Japanese employee also tested positive for novel coronavirus at US Kadena Air Base, which is also in Okinawa. 

There have been 160 virus cases reported from US military bases on Okinawa since July 1.