The latest on the coronavirus pandemic

Missouri's health department reported 1,489 new Covid-19 positive cases on Friday.   

The department has reported more than 1,000 positive cases each of the past 11 days.

On Thursday, the department said in a series of tweets that due to increased testing throughout the state combined with the testing delays at labs across the country, there was a backlog of data processing and entry in its office affecting the case counts over the previous 10 days. The tweets on Thursday said that today’s numbers would be current with only cases reported over the past 24 hours. 

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Missouri is now 50,323, according to figures released Friday afternoon by the department. The state reported a 9.7% positivity rate averaged over the past seven days. 

There were also 10 new deaths in the state, according to the department, bringing the total to 1,243. 

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

Argentine President Alberto Fernández said the current quarantine measures will be extended until August 16 for the metro area of the capital city Buenos Aires.

Ninety percent of Covid-19 cases are reported in the metro area of Buenos Aires, "but [the virus] has begun to radiate to other places," Fernández said.

"Outbreaks are surging elsewhere in the inner parts of the country," the Argentine president said.

Some context: The metro area of Buenos Aires (AMBA region) was under lockdown until July 17, when Fernández announced the country, including Buenos Aires, were going to gradually reopen between July 18 and August 2.

Regions under the current quarantine measures, are subject to a "mandatory, preventive and social isolation," where people can leave their homes only for essential needs such as food and medical services, Fernández said.

As of Friday afternoon, Argentina reported 185,373 cases of coronavirus and 3,466 deaths, according to the health ministry.

The bigger picture: Argentina has the sixth highest number of cases in the Latin America region, behind Colombia, Chile, Peru, Mexico and Brazil, according to Johns Hopkins University.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy called out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for allowing the Senate to go home for a long weekend while the unemployment benefits expire at midnight.

Murphy said families across the nation are facing “economic meltdown” and this action is “despicable.”

Some context: The unemployment benefit that has kept millions afloat amid the worst economic crisis in decades officially expires at midnight. Weekly jobless claims continue to rise. Economic forecasters are warning of another slowdown. The coronavirus has resurged across the country.

President Trump said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows would bring new options on unemployment benefits to the table Thursday night, and according to a person briefed on the talks, they did in the form of a longer-term extension of the enhanced unemployment benefits at the $600 level. Democrats again rejected the idea of decoupling the benefit extension from the broader talks.

An ensemble forecast published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now projects more than 173,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by August 22.

The new projections, published Friday, forecast 173,270 deaths by August 22, with a possible range of 167,692 to 182,366 deaths.

Unlike some individual models, the CDC’s ensemble forecast only offers projections about a month into the future. The previous ensemble forecast, published July 23, projected roughly 164,000 coronavirus deaths by August 15.

At least 152,072 people have already died from Covid-19 in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said the Covid-19 positive test rate in the state has gone up slightly from 1.7% to 2% because of “clusters” stemming from house parties and large gatherings.  

The state's Department of Public Health is investigating the clusters, which "include a large lifeguard party in Falmouth, a house party in Chatham," an unauthorized football camp and "a 90-person prom party that was held in Cohasset," the governor said.

The gatherings were planned by "both adults and young people and demonstrate an at times unwillingness to accept the fact that this virus is extremely contagious and in many cases invisible," Baker said.  

Baker said he is now considering reducing the gathering size across the state due to the recent clusters.  

New York City has 18,906 confirmed coronavirus deaths and 4,625 probable coronavirus deaths as of July 31, according to the most recent data published on the city’s website.

The New York City Health Department defines probable deaths as people who did not have a positive Covid lab test, but their death certificate lists “Covid-19” or an equivalent as the cause of death.

There have been 221,822 coronavirus cases in the city and 56,168 people have been hospitalized, according to the city data.

The data was updated on July 31 at 1 p.m. ET.

Note: The numbers are provided by the New York City Health Department and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Kenya surpassed the 20,000 threshold of confirmed Covid-19 cases after reporting 723 new cases on Friday, according to the Ministry of Health.

The total number of confirmed cases is now at least 20,636 confirmed cases and at least 341 people have died from the virus.

The milestone comes on the eve of the reopening of international travel to and from the country. Kenya will begin welcoming international travelers on August 1 after months of grounded flights. 

Travelers will be required to provide a Covid-19 negative certificate up to 96 hours before travel and be subject to a 14-day quarantine, according to the Kenyan Ministry of Transport.

Passengers from 19 countries that are considered by the Kenyan government to be low to medium risk for Covid-19 transmission will be exempt from the mandatory quarantine, provided that a passenger's temperature is below 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit and they do not have a persistent cough or other flu-like symptoms, according to a statement from Ministry of Transport on Friday. 

"Those required to quarantine will do so at the Government designated facility out at their home subject to prevailing guidelines," the statement said.

The countries exempt from mandatory quarantine are: Canada, China, South Korea, Namibia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Morocco, Japan, Zimbabwe, Switzerland, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Netherlands, Qatar, UAE, Italy, and the United States (except for California, Texas, and Florida).

The list of countries exempt from mandatory quarantine will be reviewed on a daily basis, according to the Ministry of Transport.

"The risk profile of any country could change and therefore the status with regard to these clarifications and directives could also change," the statement said.

Oklahoma's health department reported 747 new Covid-19 positive cases on Friday, the lowest total of daily cases in a week.

The state had reported more than 1,000 cases in four of the previous five days.

The health department reported 36,487 total cases and 541 total deaths, up five since Thursday’s report.

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

The top executives of three major companies are calling on the US government to go further to protect the people most at-risk from Covid-19, according to a post on Medium.

The executives argue that the government must fund five critical measures, which they say could reduce Covid-19 hospitalizations by more than 50%, based on their analysis.  

Here's what they are calling for:

The executives added that implementation of these five measures would cost the federal government less than 10% of the monthly cost incurred during the first three months of the pandemic.

"We need policymakers to act now on wide sweeping actions to prevent further spread," the executives wrote. "Protecting the vulnerable, now, is critical to protecting us all."