The latest on the coronavirus pandemic

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."

A Covid-19 outbreak at a Georgia sleep away camp this June could have implications for school reopening, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The camp had followed some but not all of the CDC mitigation steps against the spread of the new coronavirus — but was not enough to keep campers and staff free of illness.   

According to the study, published Friday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the camp adopted most of the components outlined in the CDC document “Suggestions for Youth and Summer Camps,” but it did not make campers wear cloth face masks – only the staff. Nor did the camp open windows and doors for increased ventilation In buildings. Additionally, camp attendees engaged in "daily vigorous singing and cheering,” which might have contributed to transmission. 

The study breaks down what happened at the camp when it opened its doors in mid-June to almost 600 campers and more than 120 staffers.  

Five days after the start of orientation and two days after the start of the camp session, a teenage staff member fell ill and left camp; the next day that person was confirmed to have Covid-19. Officials began sending campers home that day and closed the camp three days later.   

The Georgia Department of Health was notified and began its investigation the day after the first teenage staffer fell ill. 

Here's what the tests results found:

“These findings demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 spread efficiently in a youth-centric overnight setting, resulting in high attack rates among persons in all age groups, despite efforts by camp officials to implement most recommended strategies to prevent transmission,” the study authors wrote.

There were 292,527 new Covid-19 cases reported to the World Health Organization in the last 24 hours, according to a situation report published Friday. The total number of cases that have been reported to WHO from around the globe is now 17,106,007.

The rise in newly reported cases sets another record for cases reported to WHO within a 24-hour period. The previous record was set last Friday, July 24, when 284,196 new cases of Covid-19.

Today's report also noted there were 6,812 additional Covid-19 deaths reported to WHO in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths worldwide to 668,910. 

Peru will extend its state of emergency and localized quarantine measures for another month as the number of coronavirus infections continues to rise.

Carlos Lozada, the minister of housing, construction and sanitation, told TVPeru on Friday that the Council of Ministers had made the decision after receiving the latest epidemiological data, which had shown an increase in the level of infections in some regions.

Lozada said the regions of Arequipa, Puno, Tacna and Cusco are places where Covid-19 infections were rising. 

On Thursday, Defense Minister Walter Martos Ruiz said the curfew should continue because of the risk of "night activities," which he said could spread the virus. Martos warned that if the restrictions were lifted, many young people would attend discos, bars and other entertainment centers, Andina reported.

As of Friday afternoon, Peru reported at least 407,492 cases and 19,021 deaths, according to the health ministry.

Illinois Department of Public Health reported 1,941 new Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the state’s total number of cases to 178,837.

The public health agency also reported 21 new deaths for a total of 7,495. Nearly 2.7 million people have been tested in the state, and the positivity rate for the past seven days is at 3.9%, according to a news release.

As CNN reported on Thursday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a news conference that the state could be headed to a “reversal” of its reopening plan if positive cases continue to rise.

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

As students and teachers prepare for the upcoming school year, CNN's "Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction" podcast is dedicating a week of episodes to how kids and teachers may return to school safely.

In today's episode, one young student said she's nervous for the school year and asked, "What if I get the virus?"

Here's how CNN's education experts, Laura Jarrett responded:

You can listen to the full episode here.

The Salt Lake City School District will begin the school year in a remote setting, an announcement on the district’s website said. 

The district will begin school on Sept. 8 instead of the usual Aug. 25, the district added.

The extra time will be used to learning devices like laptops for students and for teachers to adjust plans and learn new online tools, the statement explained.

The district serves more than 23,000 students and employs around 1,120 teachers, according to federal data.

The National Institutes of Health announced Friday that it is investing $248.7 million in new technologies that should help ease some of the country’s problems with Covid-19 testing.  

The NIH launched the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) in April after it received an emergency supplemental appropriation of $1.4 billion from Congress. There was an “overwhelming response” to the department’s call for new technology, the NIH said. It received more than 650 applications.  

The initiative gives contracts to seven biomedical testing companies that should significantly increase the number and kinds of tests available as early as September. The demand for tests is estimated to be millions more per day than what is currently available, the NIH said. 

The seven companies that got the contracts use different approaches to testing. Four of the technologies should speed up and increase the capacity of lab testing, using next generation sequencing methods. Three of the technologies use platforms that should give more rapid results in point-of care-settings like in childcare centers, nursing homes, schools and workplaces. Some of these new tests should also be easier to use than the current nasal swab, and will use saliva instead.  

The seven companies that have been awarded contracts are Mesa Biotech, Quidel, Talis Biomedical, which all provide point-of-care tests, and Ginkgo Bioworks, Helix OpCo, Fluidigm and Mammoth Biosciences, which have laboratory tests. 

All the companies that have won these contracts either have emergency use authorization from the FDA for their technology or their applications are in process, according to the NIH. 

“This is an exciting milestone,” said Bruce J. Tromberg, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and a leader of RADx Tech, said in a release.