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HuffPost reporters around the world are tracking the pandemic and the measures being taken to flatten the curve of transmission.
Read the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic below. (To see the latest updates, you may need to refresh the page. All times are Eastern. For earlier updates on the pandemic, go here.)
Sydney Beaches Reopen, Despite Health Warnings — 4/20/20, 4:40 a.m. ET
A council in Sydney reopened its famous beaches on Monday, despite authorities warning the area was still a coronavirus hotspot.
Randwick City Council announced on Sunday it would open some beaches for exercise purposes only. Mayor Danny Said explained that keeping the beaches open would depend on attendance numbers and that restrictions could return if people don’t cooperate. Sitting, sunbathing and congregating in groups was still not allowed.
Australia managed to get its coronavirus epidemic under control before it strained the public health system, reporting just 53 new cases on Sunday. According to the health ministry data, those cases took the total to 6,586, with 71 deaths.
— Carly Williams
UK ‘Past The Peak’ But Country Will Be Hit With ‘Further Waves’ — 4/20/20, 4:30 a.m. ET
The U.K. coronavirus lockdown could be lifted in four weeks time given the “damage” it is causing, a leading scientific expert who advises ministers said.
Jeremy Farrar, who sits on the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, said on Sunday the U.K. was “probably just past the peak” in many parts of the country. But he warned there would be “further waves” of the virus in the future and that while a vaccine could be created “towards the end of this year,” there was an “enormous logistics” challenge to produce enough for the entire world.
“We should not see this as a discrete episode. I think the probability of what we must be planning for is that there would be further waves of this in the future,” Farrar told Sky News. “But for this first wave I think the number of new infections stabilized maybe a week or two ago, the number of hospitalizations maybe a week or so ago… we’re probably just past the peak in many parts of this country, as is true in many parts of the world.”
— Ned Simons
U.S. COVID-19 Cases Surpass 750,000 — 4/20/20, 2:01 a.m. ET
The United States has recorded at least 750,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, Reuters reported Sunday. The death toll there has surpassed 40,000.
Although it’s home to about 4% of the world’s population, the U.S. now accounts for more than 30% of the world’s total COVID-19 cases. Spain, which has recorded the second-highest number of cases globally, has reported more than 198,000 cases to date.
— Dominique Mosbergen
Trump Says He’ll Invoke Defense Production Act To Increase Testing Swabs — 4/20/20, 1:51 a.m. ET
President Donald Trump said Sunday that he intends to use the Defense Production Act, a Korean War-era law, to increase the production of swabs used for coronavirus testing.
Trump said he would invoke the act to compel a U.S. manufacturer to increase its swab production by over 20 million per month. He did not identify the manufacturer, but said the law would allow the U.S. to get swabs “very easily.“
Trump previously invoked the Defense Production Act to ramp up U.S. production of ventilators.
— Dominique Mosbergen
U.S. Death Toll Tops 40,000 — 4/19/20, 3:55 p.m. ET
COVID-19 has now claimed the lives of at least 40,000 people in the U.S., according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The death toll in the U.S. is nearly twice as high as that in Spain, the country with the second most virus-related deaths in the world.
With more than 13,000 deaths, New York has by far suffered the highest number of deaths, compared to any other state. Roughly 70% of those deaths were in New York City.
— Hayley Miller
For earlier updates on the pandemic, go here.
