The latest on the coronavirus pandemic

The World Health Organization chief attacked US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's "unacceptable" claims that the Director-General had been "bought" by China and said countries should focus on saving lives during the coronavirus pandemic, in one of his strongest rebuttals to date against criticism from the United States.

Pompeo made the claim about Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a private meeting with British lawmakers in London on Tuesday, Labour MP Chris Bryant confirmed to CNN.

The Secretary of State also referred to China's efforts to "co-opt" WHO at a news conference in London on Tuesday, when he said the world needed to ensure every country, including China, behaved in ways that were consistent with the international order.

"You can't go make claims for maritime regions that you have no lawful claim to. You can't threaten countries and bully them in the Himalayas. You can't engage in cover-ups and co-opt international institutions like the World Health Organization," said Pompeo.

When asked to comment on Pompeo's remarks on Thursday, Tedros said "the comments are untrue and unacceptable and without any foundation, for that matter."

Read the full story here.

Former US Food and Drug Administrator Dr. Scott Gottlieb said the US could see upwards of 300,000 deaths from Covid-19 if the country doesn't change its trajectory.

Gottlieb explained that while in-hospital mortality from the virus has declined, "the problem is we're hospitalizing a lot of patients."

"Right now we're gonna break our old record in terms of the total number of hospitalizations, which was 60,000. We're at 59,000 now and we're gonna eclipse that in the next week. So even if we end up preserving more life in the hospital – which we’re doing – if we end up hospitalizing a whole lot more patients, you’re ultimately going to have a lot of casualties, unfortunately, from this virus," Gottlieb said.

The stark project comes as some US medical experts, teachers, nurses and others are urging political leaders to shut down the US and start over to contain the pandemic.

"The best thing for the nation is not to reopen as quickly as possible, it's to save as many lives as possible," the group of more than 150 wrote in a letter sent to the Trump administration, leading members of Congress and state governors.

Officials better understand now that test positivity "is a real indicator that something is happening" even before there is a significant surge in Covid-19 cases, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, said Friday. 

The positivity rate is the percentage of people who test positive for the virus of those overall who have been tested.

"I think what's really important is to understand when you first see that increase in test positivity ... And I think we have a lot more knowledge now that when it just ticks up a little, even before you see a significant increase in cases, that that is a real indicator that something is happening," she said on the "Today" Show this morning. 

As an example, Birx mentioned the surge in cases observed after Memorial Day weekend, and thanked younger people for getting tested even if they had no symptoms. 

"Until you can see that explosion, it's hard for people to understand how deeply you have to clamp down. And that's why we called out the next set of cities where we see early warning signs. Because if you make changes now, you won't become a Phoenix," she added. 

A “small number” of students are physically in summer school right now in Baltimore, according to Sonja Brookins Santelises, CEO of the Maryland city’s public schools. 

There are about six to nine students in each classroom, with hand sanitizing stations and temperature checks.

“And yes, children are keeping their masks on,” she said in an interview on CNN’s “New Day.”

Santelises said the small number of students in classrooms has been the biggest way to make families and teachers most comfortable. 

Baltimore schools are supposed to open for the fall virtually on Aug. 31, but Santelises wants to push it back to Sept. 8 to better orient families and teachers for online learning.

Parents need better support with virtual learning, she said. There are parent hotlines already, but schools will be offering more virtual orientations and are asking community organizations to help. 

Preparing for the upcoming school year is a balancing act, and there’s no simple solution, Santelises said.

Watch the full interview:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said he's not eating at restaurants right now and "can’t think of a reason" to get on a flight across the Atlantic.

In an interview with MarketWatch, Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was asked about what he's doing — and not doing — as coronavirus cases continue to climb in the US.

"I presume you are not hanging out in restaurants or bars. Is it really more dangerous to eat indoors at a restaurant than outdoors?" MarketWatch asked Fauci.

Fauci responded that "yes, absolutely," indoor dining is more dangerous than outdoor dining.

"If you’re going to go to a restaurant, try as best as you can to have outdoor seating that is properly spaced between the tables," Fauci recommended.

However, he added: "I am not going to restaurants right now."

MarketWatch reporter Quentin Fottrell said he's in Ireland, and thought about Fauci on a flight across the Atlantic.

"I wondered whether Dr. Fauci would get on a flight at the moment?" Fottrell asked.

Here's how Fauci responded:

It's Friday morning in the US, which has reported more than 4 million cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began.

Here are the top headline to get your day started:

Covid-19 cases are starting to plateau in four states that have seen large increases — Texas, California, Arizona and Florida, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator said Friday. 

"We're already starting to see some plateauing in these critical four states that have suffered under the last four weeks. So Texas, California, Arizona and Florida, those major metros and throughout their counties," she said on the “Today" show this morning.

Birx compared what's been going on in these states to the outbreak in New York in the spring, adding "it's very serious and it's very real." 

She called on the American people to wear masks and increase social distancing "to really stop the spread of this epidemic." 

US federal regulators have found a serious consequence to airlines parking planes because of the coronavirus pandemic, and ordered an emergency fix. 

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued an emergency notice to all airlines that fly Boeing 737 jets, saying planes that have returned to service could have their engines suddenly fail “without the ability to restart, which could result in a forced off-airport landing.”

The 737 is the backbone of several major airlines which have been returning jets to service as they bank on a recovery in ticket sales. 

Under the directive, airlines will have to inspect engines on hundreds of the workhorse jets looking for corroded parts. 

The FAA found the engine part in question may “fail to close when power is reduced at top of descent, resulting in an unrecoverable compressor stall and the inability to restart the engine.”

The agency said the directive “was prompted by four recent” reports of incidents where an engine shut down.

The head of the Red Cross has warned in an interview with the AFP news agency that the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic could lead to huge new waves of migration.

Jagan Chapagain, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said many people in poverty faced the desperate choice of risking exposure to the virus or going hungry.

“Increasingly we are seeing in many countries the impacts on the livelihoods and the food situation,” he said in Geneva late Wednesday.

Chapagain, from Nepal, told AFP that more migration driven by desperation could result in more tragedies, such as deaths at sea. He said there was an economic as well as moral imperative to help those most in need.

“The cost of supporting the migrants, during the transit and of course when they reach the country of destination, is much more than supporting people in their livelihoods, education, health needs in their own country,” he said.

He also warned that inequalities in access to healthcare could prompt further migration.

“People could feel that there is a better chance of survival on the other side of the sea,” he said, adding that another major factor would be “the availability of vaccines.”

He condemned efforts by some countries to secure vaccine supplies for their own people first.

“The virus crosses the border, so it is pretty short-sighted to think that I vaccinate my people but leave everybody else without vaccination, and we will still be safe,” he said. “It simply doesn’t make sense.”