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Barack Obama launched a scathing attack on Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, calling it an “absolute chaotic disaster”.
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France registered its lowest toll in a month, with 80 deaths reported on Saturday, as authorities prepared to relax curbs on public movement.
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Authorities in the South Korean capital, Seoul, shut down more than 2,100 nightclubs, hostess bars and discos after a cluster of cases linked to a popular entertainment district.
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Globally, more than 279,000 have died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, while the number of confirmed infections has surpassed four million. More than 1.3 million people have recovered.
Here are all the latest updates:
Sunday, May 10
03:01 GMT – South Korea reports biggest single-day jump in a month
South Korea reported 34 additional cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours as a spate of transmissions linked to clubgoers threatens the country’s hard-won gains in its fight against the virus.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a tentative assessment showed 26 of the 34 new patients were locally transmitted cases, while the rest were imported.
The Yonhap news agency said it was the first time that South Korea’s cases rise above 30 in about a month.
A list of precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is seen at an entrance of a club in Seoul, South Korea on May 8, 2020 [Yonhap via Reuters]
Most of the new cases in the past few days were linked to nightclubs in Seoul’s Itaewon entertainment neighborhood.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun instructed officials to find an estimated 1,510 people who visited clubs in Itaewon last week and test them for the coronavirus.
The KCDC has also urged visitors of those clubs to self-isolate to limit the possible spread of the virus, according to Yonhap.
02:42 GMT – China reports double-digit rise in new cases
China reported its first double-digit rise in new rises cases in 10 days Sunday, saying 14 new cases had been detected, 12 of them domestic infections and two brought from abroad.
Eleven of those domestic cases were in the northeastern province of Jilin and 1 in Hubei province, whose capital Wuhan is considered to have been the epicenter of the global pandemic.
Jilin shares a border with North Korea, where the virus situation is unclear.
02:14 GMT – US airlines endorse temperature screenings
A US trade group representing major airlines says its members support having the government do temperature checks of passengers as long as necessary during the coronavirus crisis.
Airlines for America said the checks will add a layer of protection for passengers as well as airline and airport employees.
The association said passenger screening is the responsibility of the Transportation Security Administration.
“Having temperature checks performed by the TSA will ensure that procedures are standardised, providing consistency across airports so that travelers can plan appropriately.”
01:55 GMT – New Zealand reports two new cases
Health authorities in New Zealand reported two new coronavirus cases on Sunday, a day before Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her cabinet decide to further ease physical distancing restrictions.
One case was linked to a facility for older people, while the second involved a traveler from overseas.
Today we again have 2 new cases of #COVID19 to report in New Zealand. For full details, read the full release at https://t.co/abkrd7GnpS
— Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora (@minhealthnz) May 10, 2020
01:27 GMT – One-third of all US coronavirus deaths linked to nursing homes
At least 25,600 residents and workers have died from the coronavirus at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities for older adults in the US, according to a New York Times database.
“While just about 10 percent of the country’s cases have occurred in long-term care facilities, deaths related to COVID-19 in these facilities account for a third of the country’s pandemic fatalities,” the Times said.
The virus has infected more than 143,000 people at some 7,500 facilities, it added.
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COVID-19 lockdown fuels mental health crisis in US (2:33) |
01:12 GMT – US CDC, FDA chiefs in self-quarantine following COVID-19 exposure
Two cabinet-level US officials were in self-quarantine after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19, according to a spokesman and a media report.
Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “will be teleworking for the next two weeks” after a “low-risk exposure” on Wednesday to a person at the White House who has the disease, the Washington Post reported, citing a spokesman.
Stephen Hahn, US Food and Drug Administration commissioner, is also in self-quarantine for the next two weeks after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, an FDA spokesman told Reuters late on Friday.
Hahn immediately took a diagnostic test for the coronavirus and the results were negative, the FDA said.
00:25 GMT – Brazil records 10,000 deaths
The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in Brazil has surpassed 10,000, according to figures from the Ministry of Health.
There are now 10,627 deaths and 155,939 confirmed cases in the country, but scientists think the real toll could be 15 or even 20 times worse, given the country’s inability to carry out widespread testing.
After Brazil surpassed the 10,000 dead mark, the National Congress decreed an official mourning period of three days and asked Brazilians to follow health authorities’ recommendations to reduce infection rates while the country prepares for “a safe and definitive return back to normal”.
00:12 GMT – Musk threatens to exit California over restrictions
Tesla CEO Elon Musk threatened to pull the company’s factory and headquarters out of California and sued local officials who have stopped the company from reopening its electric vehicle factory.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court, Tesla accused the Alameda County Health Department of overstepping federal and state coronavirus restrictions when it stopped Tesla from restarting production at its factory in Fremont. The lawsuit contends Tesla factory workers are allowed to work during California’s stay-at-home order because the facility is considered “critical infrastructure”.
“Frankly, this is the final straw,” Musk tweeted. “Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately.”
He wrote that whether the company keeps any manufacturing in Fremont depends on how Tesla is treated in the future.
Alameda County said on that it has been working with Tesla to develop a safety plan that “allows for reopening while protecting the health and well-being of the thousands of employees” that work at the factory and that it looks forward to coming to an agreement on a safety plan very soon.
But Fremont Mayor Lily Mei expressed concern about the potential economic implications of continuing the shelter-in-place order without provisions for manufacturers such as Tesla to resume. Mei urged the county to work with businesses on “acceptable guidelines for reopening”.
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Zaheena Rasheed in Male, Maldives.
Go here for all the updates from yesterday, May 9.
