July 29 coronavirus news

By Nectar Gan, Adam Renton, Melissa Macaya, Meg Wagner and Mike Hayes, CNN

Updated 12:40 p.m. ET, July 30, 2020
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12:07 a.m. ET, July 29, 2020

China reports more than 100 new coronavirus cases for first time since April

From CNN's Isaac Yee in Hong Kong

A Uyghur man is tested at a temperature checkpoint on June 29, in Kuqa, a city in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.
A Uyghur man is tested at a temperature checkpoint on June 29, in Kuqa, a city in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.  David Liu/Getty Images

China recorded 101 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the highest single-day increase since early April, according to numbers released by the National Health Commission on Wednesday.

Among the new cases, 98 were locally transmitted, including 89 in the far western region of Xinjiang where a fresh outbreak has emerged this month. One local infection was also found in Beijing, and the remaining local cases were found in Liaoning.

On Tuesday, China also recorded a further 27 asymptomatic infections, which are not included in the tally of confirmed cases. 

This is the first time China has reported more than 100 new infections in a single day since April 12, when the country reported 108 new cases -- most of which were imported.

It is the third consecutive day China has reported the highest daily spike in local infections since early March.

12:07 a.m. ET, July 29, 2020

Mexico surpasses 400,000 coronavirus cases

From CNN's Karol Suarez in Mexico City

Pharmaceutical biochemists process Covd-19 tests at a laboratory at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi (UASLP) Research Center in Health Sciences and Biomedicine in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, on Friday, July 24.
Pharmaceutical biochemists process Covd-19 tests at a laboratory at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi (UASLP) Research Center in Health Sciences and Biomedicine in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, on Friday, July 24. Mauricio Palos/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Mexico surpassed 400,000 coronavirus cases Tuesday after its health ministry recorded 7,208 new cases.  

The country has now reported a total of 402,697 confirmed cases of Covid-19.

The ministry also added 854 new fatalities from coronavirus Tuesday, bringing Mexico's death toll to 44,876.

12:14 a.m. ET, July 29, 2020

Birx sounds alarm for "yellow zone" states on Pence's call with governors

From CNN's Betsy Klein

White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx on Tuesday provided some dire warnings for states that are in the task force-defined "yellow zone" for cases and test positivity, which she said are different from outbreaks across the country earlier this year. 

On a call Tuesday with Vice President Mike Pence and several governors, she said there has been “significant improvement” in "red zone" states Florida, California, Texas, and Arizona following orders to close bars, decrease indoor dining, and require the use of masks. The task force defines its "red zone" states as more than 100 cases per 100,000 people and more than 10% test positivity. 

But she said there are still rising cases and test positivity in other "red zone" states: Mississippi, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Oklahoma, Georgia, Idaho, and Arkansas. 

Birx said "yellow zone" states, which the task force defines as having between 10 and 100 cases per 100,000 and 5-10% test positivity, have had a similar profile to "red zone" states: “Starting with the 20 to 30 year-olds presenting as a first wave.” 

“Remember, the majority of those are asymptomatic so if you expect to see hospitalizations, by the time you see hospitalization, your community spread is so widespread that you’ve flipped into a red state incredibly quickly,” Birx said. 

She said the task force is working with governors and mayors in the following places: Colorado, the District of Columbia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minneapolis, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, Ohio, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.

The task force, Birx said, is talking with these places “about increasing mitigation efforts now because if we wait until increased hospitalizations it is really way too late. Because what we are experiencing now is really different than March and April, it’s very different from the outbreaks of May that was typically contained. This widespread community spread in the younger age group both rural and very urban and urban areas so by the time you see it up to 80-90% of your counties already have more than 10%.” 

Birx expressed concern for major metros like Chicago and Philadelphia, as well as California’s Central Valley, and applauded Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s mask mandate, which she said is having a “significant impact.”

Pence reiterated that the administration does not want another closure -- something, he said, “We don’t ever want to see again,” but pointed to studies that show that the use of masks, bar closures, limiting outdoor dining, and limiting social gatherings are having similar effect as sheltering in place earlier this year. He recommended governors in "yellow zone" states “take a hard look” at those four measures “whether it be on a county-by-county basis or a statewide basis.”

“We’ll support your decision, but I think your big message to these states that may be emerging is don’t wait,” Pence said. 

11:21 p.m. ET, July 28, 2020

Trump defends viral video with false coronavirus claims

From CNN's Allison Malloy

US President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the White House, Tuesday, July 28 in Washington.
US President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the White House, Tuesday, July 28 in Washington. Evan Vucci/AP

US President Donald Trump defended his tweets in support of hydroxychloroquine saying that the drug is still “very positive” and called a doctor who was spreading conspiracy theories on Covid-19 in a now deleted video “very impressive.”

When discussing the video that he retweeted Monday night featuring a group of doctors making false claims related to coronavirus, Trump said the thought were “very respected doctors.” 

“There was a woman who was spectacular in her statements about it and she’s had tremendous success with it. And they took her voice off -- I don’t know why they took her off but they took her off. Maybe they had a good reason, maybe they didn’t,” he said.

The video, published by the right-wing media outlet Breitbart News, featured a group of people wearing white lab coats calling themselves "America's Frontline Doctors" staging a news conference in which one speaker who identifies herself as a doctor makes a number of dubious claims, including that "you don't need masks" to prevent the spread of coronavirus, and that recent studies showing hydroxychloroquine is ineffective for the treatment of Covid-19 are "fake science" sponsored by "fake pharma companies."

When challenged on these claims by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Trump demurred saying, “She was on air along with many other doctors. They were big fans of hydroxychloroquine and I thought she was very impressive in the sense that … she said she has tremendous success with hundreds of different patients and I thought her voice was an important voice but I know nothing about her.”

Trump shared multiple versions of the video -- which was deleted by Twitter, Facebook and YouTube -- with his 84 million Twitter followers Monday night despite the claims running counter to his own administration’s health experts. When pressed by Collins on this fact, Trump abruptly ended the news conference.

But Trump once again stuck by his defense of hydroxychloroquine, telling reporters about his tweet: “I wasn’t making claims. It’s recommendations of many other people including doctors.” 

“I think it’s become very political. I happen to believe in it. I would take it -- as you know I took it for a 14-day period. I’m here -- I happen to think it works in the early stages. I know frontline medical people believe that too, some, many.” 
“It’s safe, it doesn’t cause problems. I had no problem,” Trump said adding, “It didn’t get me and it’s not going to hopefully hurt anybody,” Trump added.

A study found that neither hydroxychloroquine alone nor hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin appeared to affect the condition of patients at the 15-day mark. Additionally, unusual heart rhythms and elevated liver-enzyme levels were more frequent in patients receiving hydroxychloroquine alone or with azithromycin, according to the study.

8:35 a.m. ET, July 29, 2020

Trump wonders why Fauci is so popular when he is so unpopular

From CNN's Kevin Liptak

US President Donald Trump is flanked by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases while speaking about coronavirus vaccine development in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 15 in Washington.
US President Donald Trump is flanked by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases while speaking about coronavirus vaccine development in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 15 in Washington. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

US President Donald Trump says his relationship with Dr. Anthony Fauci is "very good" but wonders why the doctor's approval rating is so high when his is so low.

Speaking a day after he retweeted a message claiming Fauci had misled the public, Trump chalked up his own sinking numbers to his personality. 

But he said Fauci's broad respect should transfer to the Trump administration -- for whom Fauci works. 

"I get along with him very well and I agree with a lot of what he’s said," Trump insisted.

"It’s interesting: he’s got a very good approval rating. And I like that, it’s good," the President went on. "Because remember: he’s working for this administration. He’s working with us. We could have gotten other people. We could have gotten somebody else. It didn’t have to be Dr. Fauci. He’s working with our administration. And for the most part we’ve done what he and others -- and Dr. [Deborah] Birx and others -- have recommended."

Trump continued: "And he’s got this high approval rating. So why don’t I have a high approval rating with respect -- and the administration -- with respect to the virus? We should have it very high."

"So it sort of is curious," Trump said, "a man works for us, with us, very closely, Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx also, very highly thought of -- and yet, they’re highly thought of, but nobody likes me?" 

"It can only be my personality, that’s all," he concluded.