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The global case tally from the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 climbed above 5.5 million on Tuesday, as the World Health Organization warned of the possibility of an immediate “second peak” in infections during the current wave, if countries and local governments ease measures to contain the spread too soon.
Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO emergencies chief, offered the warning in an online briefing, as the Associated Press reported.
“We cannot make assumptions that just because the disease is on the way down now it is going to keep going down and we are get a number of months to get ready for a second wave,” said Ryan. “We may get a second peak in this wave.”
His warning comes after the U.S. Memorial Day holiday celebrations saw crowds gathering on beaches and in parks in many states (with notable images emerging from the Lake of the Ozarks resort area in Missouri), failing to observe social-distancing measures and other guidelines that public-health experts say are still essential to control the spread of the virus.
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Media reported widely on the culture wars brewing across the U.S. between those who refuse to comply with safety measures, such as wearing face masks, and even claim the pandemic is not real, and those who are respecting guidelines. Social media reflected the divide in videos of individuals in some states brawling with store workers when asked to wear a mask, while in other states store associates were refusing to allow entrance to people wearing masks.
President Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia and Fort McHenry in Baltimore to commemorate the sacrifice of soldiers but did not wear a mask to either event.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, did wear a mask on a visit to a veterans memorial in Delaware and was careful to socially distance from a group of attending veterans.
Biden has pledged to observe all measures recommended by health experts, who have repeatedly cautioned Americans that reopening too soon would cause unnecessary suffering and death.
Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said she was “very concerned” about scenes of people crowding together over the weekend.
“We really want to be clear all the time that social distancing is absolutely critical,” she told ABC’s “This Week.” “And if you can’t social distance and you’re outside, you must wear a mask.”
Meanwhile, a group of public media companies, including the BBC, Deutsche Welle and CBC Radio-Canada, have said they will work to combat “the proliferation, particularly on social networks, of fake news” about COVID-19.
Latest tallies
The U.S. death toll edged ever closer to 100,000 on Tuesday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. has the highest death toll in the world at 98,294, and the highest case tally at 1.67 million.
The global case tally is 5.53 million, and at least 347,085 people have died. At least 2.3 million people have recovered.
Brazil has 374,898 cases and 23,473 deaths after another spike over the weekend. The White House said a Brazil travel ban will be moved forward to 11:50 p.m. Washington time.
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Russia has 362,342 cases and 3,807 fatalities. The U.K. has 266,590 cases and 37,130 deaths, the highest death toll in Europe and second highest in the world after the U.S.’s. The U.K. death toll actually passed 47,000, according to numbers provided by its Office for National Statistics, which include deaths in which the virus was given as a suspected cause.
Spain has 235,400 cases and 26,834 deaths, while Italy has 230,158 cases and 32,877 deaths. France has 183,067 cases and 28,460 deaths, while Germany has 180,802 cases and 8,323 deaths.
Turkey has 157,814 cases and 4,369 deaths, and India has 147,144 cases and 4,197 deaths. Iran has 139,511 cases and 7,508 deaths. Peru has 123,979 cases and 3,629 deaths.
Canada has passed China by case number with 87,122 cases and 6,655 deaths. China, where the disease was first reported late last year, has 84,102 cases and 4,638 deaths.
What’s the latest medical news?
The WHO said it is temporarily excluding the antimalarial treatment hydroxychloroquine from a global study of possible treatments for COVID-19, as its experts review the initial evidence, the AP reported.
The organization’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that in light of a paper published last week in the Lancet, that found people taking hydroxychloroquine were at higher risk of death and heart problems than those that were not, there would be “a temporary pause” on the hydroxychloroquine arm of its global clinical trial.
“This concern relates to the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in COVID-19,” Tedros said, adding that the drugs remain, as has been the case for decades, accepted treatments for people with malaria or autoimmune diseases.
Biotech Novavax Inc. NVAX, +9.85% announced that it has started to treat 131 volunteers with its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in a trial in Australia, the first phase to test the treatment for efficacy and safety. The vaccine, called NVX-CoV2373, is one of many that are being developed against the virus that are either in their early stages or at preclinical level.
Dr. Gregory Glenn, Novavax’s head of research, said the company is also making speedily deploy able doses on the assumption that the vaccine is effective. The company has $388 million in funding from the Oslo-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
Separately, Merck & Co. MRK, +2.13% is working on two potential vaccines and an experimental drug therapy for the virus. The company is acquiring privately held Themis Bioscience of Vienna, which is scaling up fro clinical trials that could begin within weeks, as the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Merck’s head of R&D, Roger Perlmutter.
Merck’s second coronavirus vaccine effort will take the form of a partnership with the scientific-research organization IAVI, whose experimental vaccine uses the same technology that is the basis for Merck’s Ebola Zaire virus vaccine, Perlmutter said.
What are companies saying?
The first-quarter earnings season is winding down with just a few quarterly reports on Tuesday. Retailer Hibbett Sports HIBB, +2.30% surprised on the upside by beating estimates, even as it swung to a loss amid store closures.
Advance Auto Parts AAP, +3.28% also topped estimates and said government stimulus checks had acted as a catalyst, especially at the end of the quarter.
Elsewhere, companies continued to issue bonds to bolster liquidity and offer updates on their reopening plans.
Here are the latest things companies have said about COVID-19:
• 1Life Healthcare Inc. ONEM, -9.75%, parent of membership-based primary-care platform One Medical, is offering $250 million of convertible senior notes due 2025 in a private offering. Proceeds are to be used for general corporate purposes, including working capital, business development, and marketing activities and capital expenditures. The company may also use proceeds for strategic investments in businesses, services of technologies.
• AutoZone Inc. AZO, +1.12% reported third-fiscal-quarter profit and sales that beat expectations, as the distribution of stimulus checks helped lift sales in the last part of the quarter. Domestic same-store sales fell 1%, with sales up in the mid-single-digits percentage range during the first four weeks of the quarter, then were down “materially” the second four-week period given the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, then turned “meaningfully positive” in the last four weeks as the stimulus checks started flowing through the economy. The company said it couldn’t not provide financial guidance “with any degree of confidence” given uncertainties associated with the pandemic.
• Cigna Corp. CI, +3.89% affirmed its full-year outlook for adjusted profit and revenue, and backed its 2021 earnings-per-share target, as the insurer expect to participate in meetings with investors and analysts in the coming weeks. The company expects 2020 adjusted EPS of $18.00 to $18.60 and revenue of $154 billion to $156 billion, both surrounding the FactSet EPS consensus of $18.43 and revenue consensus of $154.71 billion. For 2021, Cigna expects adjusted EPS of $20.00 to $21.00, compared with the FactSet consensus of $20.44.
• Hertz Corp. HTZ, -7.49% filed for bankruptcy protection Friday, unable to withstand the pandemic that has crippled global travel and with it, the heavily indebted 102-year-old car-rental company’s business, the Associated Press reported. The Estero, Florida-based company’s lenders were unwilling to grant it another extension on its auto lease debt payments past a Friday deadline, triggering the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. Hertz and its subsidiaries will continue to operate, according to a release from the company. By the end of March, Hertz Global Holdings Inc. had racked up $18.7 billion in debt with only $1 billion of available cash.
• Hibbett Sports Inc. posted stronger-than-expected adjusted profit and sales for the first quarter as a steep rise in e-commerce sales helped offset the effect of closed stores during the coronavirus pandemic. The Birmingham, Ala.-based sports retailer’s e-commerce sales rose 110.5% and accounted for 22.3% of total sales. Hibbett Sports and City Gear stores began to reopen at the end of April. The company ended the quarter with $106.2 million in cash. It has $50 million of debt outstanding and $25 million available under a $75.0 million secured credit facility. The company is not providing guidance given the uncertainty created by the pandemic.
• Macy’s Inc. M, +15.96% is planning to offer $1.1 billion in senior secured notes that mature in 2025 in a private offering. Proceeds will be used along with cash on hand to repay the company’s revolving credit facility.
• Microchip Technology Inc. MCHP, +7.42% is planning to issue $2.2 billion worth of bonds to raise the funds needed to repay a senior secured bridge loan and finance the cash portion of an exchange of convertible bonds. The Chandler, Ariz.–based company said it will issue $1 billion of senior secured notes, and $1.2 billion of senior notes.
• Six Flags Entertainment Corp. SIX, +10.66% will reopen its first park, with limited capacity, on June 5. The company said its Frontier City theme park in Oklahoma City will open in “preview mode” for members and season-pass holders June 5–7. “We have developed a comprehensive reopening safety plan that includes best practices from theme park and waterpark industry experts, along with top destination parks from around the world, which will allow guests to experience our parks in the safest possible way,” said Chief Executive Mike Spanos. “This ‘new normal’ will be very different, but we believe these additional measures are appropriate in the current environment.” Among the safety measures, all guests over the age of 2 will be required to weak face masks, temperatures of guests and employees will be taken before park entry, guests will be separated by rows or seats on all rides, and capacity at indoor venues will be reduced.
