USA coronavirus live: Trump, stimulus checks, cases, deaths, updates today

Spain's government to decree covid-19 state of emergency

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will announce a new state of emergency on Sunday in an effort to curb soaring coronavirus infections.

The state of emergency will give regions, which decide on their own health matters, the powers to impose stricter restrictions on movement, including curfews. They can also put curbs on businesses and limit other activities such as gathering in groups inside and outside the home.

A growing number of regions had been calling on the government to implement the measure to allow them to impose curfews.

Trump goes on offensive against Biden with trip to New Hampshire

President Donald Trump will go on the offensive against Democratic rival Joe Biden on Sunday with a campaign trip to New Hampshire, a state he narrowly lost in 2016 but is trying to reclaim in this year's White House race.

With nine days left until the Nov. 3 U.S. elections, the Republican president is storming his way through top battleground states in a late push to make up ground against Biden, who leads in national opinion polls.

Opinion polls in many of the most vital swing states that will decide the election show a closer race. New Hampshire, which Trump lost to Democrat Hillary Clinton by about 3,000 votes in 2016, has not been considered a top-tier battleground, and most polls show Biden with a comfortable edge in the New England state.

Qatar signs deal to buy Moderna covid-19 vaccine

Qatar has signed an agreement with drugmaker Moderna Inc to buy its potential covid-19 vaccine as soon as it is approved and released for global use, state news agency QNA quoted a health official as saying on Sunday.

There are no internationally approved vaccines yet, but several are in advanced trials, including from Pfizer Inc , Johnson & Johnson and Moderna. "Negotiating early and securing a number of agreements enhances our chances of getting sufficient quantities of the vaccine early," said Abdullatif al-Khal, chair of a national covid-19 health group and head of infectious diseases at Hamad Medical Corporation.

Pence to keep up U.S. campaigning after close aides test positive for covid-19

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence planned to press ahead with campaigning including a Sunday trip to the battleground state of North Carolina after multiple close aides tested positive for the coronavirus, as the pandemic remained front and center in the presidential race.

With nine days to go before the Nov. 3 election in which Democrat Joe Biden is challenging Republican President Donald Trump, the White House cited Pence's status as an "essential worker" as justification for his travel despite exposure to his chief of staff, Marc Short, who tested positive on Saturday.

Multiple other senior aides to Pence also tested positive for covid-19, the White House chief of staff said, as new nationwide infections soared to record numbers in recent days amid a pandemic that has killed 225,000 Americans.

US reports second-highest day of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began

Things are net letting up in the US as the nation reports the second-highest day of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began. 

"We're at a dangerous tipping point right now," Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, told Margaret Brennan Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation. "We're entering what's going to be the steep slope of the curve, of the epidemic"

Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldinho positive for covid-19

Ronaldinho has confirmed he has returned a positive test for coronavirus, with the Brazil legend self-isolating in Belo Horizonte....

Update on Tropical Storm Zeta as it barrels towards Mexico's Yucatan coast

Tropical Storm Zeta churned towards Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Sunday and was expected to hit the coast late on Monday, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, just weeks after another hurricane caused chaos in the tourist region. Zeta is forecast to strengthen after leaving the peninsula and bear down on the US Gulf Coast in coming days, potentially interfering with oil industry output and setting fresh records for hurricane landfalls in southern United States.

Hurricane Dela, which hit Mexico's Cancun city earlier this month, caused chaos in the surrounding tourist resorts, disrupting plans by businesses and Mexico's government to try and revive the pandemic-hit tourism industry. NHC said tropical conditions are expected in northern Yucatan Peninsula on Monday and early Tuesday, with hurricane conditions possible. Zeta is about 255 miles (410 km) from the island of Cozumel in Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour (64 km per hour), NHC said.

Increase in new coronavirus infections threatens to overwhelm US hospitals

US healthcare workers fear surging Covid-19 cases could overwhelm hospitals as governors scrambled on Sunday to address record rises in new infections across the country, from the FT...

Deploying robots in the age of pandemic

Boston Dynamic CEO Robert Playter spoke to CNBC about new robotic applications in the age of pandemic. Boston Dynamic's famous dog-looking robot, Spot, is currently being deployed to help health workers tending to coronavirus patients. Check out the video below for more...

Fauci says don't expect vaccine until well into next year

Infectious Diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has said it should be known by December whether a potential coronavirus vaccine is safe and effective, but widespread availability will likely not happen until well into next year. 

"We will know whether a vaccine is safe and effective by the end of November, beginning of December," he said. "The amount of doses that will be available in December will not certainly be enough to vaccinate everybody -- you'll have to wait several months into 2021."

France reports record 50,000 daily covid cases

France registered a record 52,010 new confirmed coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, following a record 45,422 on Saturday, the health ministry said in a statement on Sunday. The new cases took the total to 1,138,507, with France now ahead of Argentina and Spain to become the country with the world's fifth highest number of cases, after the United States, India, Brazil and Russia.

The ministry said that 116 people had died from coronavirus infection over the past 24 hours, compared to from 137 on Saturday, taking the total to 34,761. (Reuters)

The problem with false postitives

False "can have serious consequences especially in places where the virus is scarce"...

Britain records 19,790 new COVID-19 cases, 151 deaths

Britain recorded 19,790 new COVID-19 infections and 151 deaths on Sunday, official data showed.

New cases dipped from Saturday's 23,012, and the number of deaths within 28 days of a positive test was also down slightly from 174 the previous day.

"I spoke to the vice president last night at midnight, and what I can tell you he's doing is wearing a mask, socially distancing, and when he goes up to speak he will take the mask off and put it back on."

The White House vaccine Santa clause 

A federal health agency halted a public-service coronavirus advertising campaign funded by $250 million in taxpayer money after it offered a special vaccine deal to an unusual set of essential workers: Santa Claus performers.

As part of the plan, a top Trump administration official wanted the Santa performers to promote the benefits of a covid-19 vaccination and, in exchange, offered them early vaccine access ahead of the general public, according to audio recordings.

Full story from the WSJ.

Permanently remote workers seen doubling in 2021 due to pandemic productivity: survey

The percentage of workers around the world that is permanently working from home is expected to double in 2021 as productivity has increased during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey from US-based Enterprise Technology Research (ETR).

ETR in September surveyed about 1,200 chief information officers from around the world across different industries.

The CIOs also expressed increased optimism about business prospects in 2021, as they see an increase in tech budgets by 2.1%, compared with a 4.1% decline this year due to the lockdowns triggered by the pandemic.

The survey said information technology decision-makers expect permanent remote work to double to 34.4% of their companies’ workforces in 2021, compared with 16.4% before the coronavirus outbreak, a result of positive productivity trends.

Full story from Reuters.

Canada's Atlantic region closed out world to beat COVID-19, and the economy has done OK

Chef Emily Wells was unsure what to expect as she opened the doors of her seasonal restaurant in rural Prince Edward Island the same day Canada's four Atlantic provinces bubbled together, allowing travel between them while keeping their borders restricted to everyone else. The result was far better than she could have imagined.

'It was a remarkable summer, I was floored by it,' Wells said. 'The bubble made all the difference. It certainly worked for us.'

The border restrictions along with tough public health measures helped the east coast provinces, which have a combined population of 2.4 million, tamp down covid-19 early on and largely keep the virus at bay even as the rest of the country entered a second wave of infections. That success came at a cost.

More than 171,000 jobs were lost, exports plunged and the region's C$5 billion ($3.8 billion) tourism sector was crippled, with all four provinces swinging from economic growth to sudden contraction. While the initial impact was similar to what happened in the rest of Canada, data shows the rebound in jobs and economic activity that followed was quicker, bolstered by the ability to reopen the economy faster than the rest of the country.

The opposite of a ringing endorsement

Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, says he has bet $10,000 on him losing the presidential election, warning that Britain should “pray” for Joe Biden to win the race for the White House.

In an interview, Cohen warned that Boris Johnson and his government will get no special treatment from Trump even if he does triumph again and predicted that the president will be prepared to incite violence among militia groups to cling on to power.

Barrett Supreme Court confirmation edges closer with Sunday vote

The Republican-controlled US Senate on Sunday plans to move closer toward a final confirmation vote on President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, on Monday, just over a week before Election Day.

With Republicans controlling the chamber 53-47 and no indication of an internal revolt against the conservative appeals court judge replacing liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Barrett looks almost certain to take up a lifetime appointment on the bench over universal Democratic opposition. One of two Republican senators who had opposed the rushed confirmation process, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, said on Saturday that she would nevertheless vote to confirm Barrett.

'I have no doubt about her capability to do the job and to do it well,' she said. Republicans are planning a preliminary vote on Sunday afternoon to end debate on the nomination, teeing up the final vote that is likely to take place on Monday evening.

It's worth noting that no nominee to the Supreme Court has ever been confirmed by the Senate this close to a presidential election.

More reaction to isolation debate

...with many trying to point out that stopping the spread of the airborne virus is not rocket science. Literally and metaphorically!

Contrasting campaign covid cancellation concerns

We reported earlier that VP Mike Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, tested positive for coronavirus.

This has further opened the debate over how campaigns should react especially after the behaviours of the White House that led to Donald Trump being dubbed a 'super spreader'.

U.S. posts second highest single-day Covid-19 caseload

U.S. Coronavirus cases were close to 84,000 for the second consecutive day on Saturday with 83,718 reported new cases - the second-highest single-day count after Friday’s record of 83,757 infections. At least seven states, including Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma and Colorado recorded their largest daily increase in Covid-19 cases on Saturday.

Idaho's Latino community struggling to deal with Covid-19 deaths

Alma De León, a resident of Canyon County, lost both of her grandparents to Covid-19 which swept through her extended family, affecting at least a dozen family members. “No one thought that we were going to lose my grandparents,” De León told the Idaho Statesman. “They were very healthy, very active. If people would only follow the rules, wear a mask ... Don’t visit your loved ones. You don’t know, you could be someone else’s grave.”

Dr. Fauci: Trump is wrong, we have not turned the corner in the Covid-19 pandemic

In last week's final presidential debate, U.S. president Donald Trump claimed that Coronavirus "will go away and as I say, we are rounding the turn, we are rounding the corner - it's going away.

No so, replied Dr. Anthony Fauci in an interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr today: "If you just look at the numbers, you can have opinions about what's going on but the data speaks for itself. Yesterday, we had over 70,000 cases - additional cases in a day. And I'd say we have about 1,000 deaths. If you look at the map of the United States, there are areas when it gets above a certain percentage, that is an indication that you are going in the wrong direction. We don't want to shut down again, there is no appetite whatsoever in this country for shutting down in any strict way but there are also several public health measure which you can implement that would go a long way to turning around these increases that we are seeing".

Why are people with diabetes considered high-risk of Covid-19 infection?

Older people or those with underlying medical conditions such as heart disease and asthma are considered in the high-risk bracket of those who could be more vulnerable if they contract Covid-19. But why are those who suffer Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes included in that group? 

U.S. disease expert Fauci says vaccine verdict due by early December

U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said on Sunday it would be clear whether a Covid-19 vaccine was safe and effective by early December, but that more widespread vaccination would not be likely until later in 2021.

"We will know whether a vaccine is safe and effective by the end of November, the beginning of December," Fauci told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme. "When you talk about vaccinating a substantial proportion of the population, so that you can have a significant impact on the dynamics of the outbreak, that very likely will not be until the second or third quarter of the year."

Pursuit of herd immunity from Covid-19 could result in half a million deaths

A group of scientists have voiced their concern that seeking herd immunity from Covid-19 could have disastrous effects in an article published in The Lancet. “Surrendering to the virus is not a defensible plan", argues Kristian Andersen, an immunologist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. “We have never successfully been able to do it before, and it will lead to unacceptable and unnecessary untold human death and suffering.”

Scientists called the herd-immunity approach a “dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence”.

Mike Pence aide Marc Short tests positive for Covid-19

Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, has tested positive for Covid-19 and is now in quarantine, Pence's press secretary Devin O'Malley has confirmed. Pence and his wife meanwhile both tested negative "and remain in good health," O'Malley said.

Teenager scoops $25,000 prize for Covid-19 breakthrough

Anika Chebrolu, a 14-year-old from Frisco, Texas, has won the 2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge, together with $25,000 in prize money, for a discovery in the battle to treat or cure Covid-19, CNN reports. Anika's research uses in-silico methodology to discover a lead molecule that can selectively bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

UK considering reducing quarantine period for Covid-19 contacts

Officials in the UK government's coronavirus task force are considering reducing to seven or 10 days from 14 days the period that people must quarantine if they have been in contact with people infected with the illness, Sky News reported on Sunday. Like many other European countries, the UK is facing a surge in infections. It has so far reported 884,457 coronavirus cases with 44,795 deaths.

Space oddity - Astronaut casts vote from space

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins made sure she got her vote in on time, even though she is 200 miles above Earth . aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Rubins is one of several astronauts who are registered in Texas, home of the Johnson Space Center. Under Texan law, they are allowed to vote from space using a secure electronic ballot, which is relayed to their respective county clerks by mission control. 

Trump in New Hampshire

President Donald Trump will go on the offensive against Democratic rival Joe Biden on Sunday with a campaign trip to New Hampshire, a state he narrowly lost in 2016 but is trying to reclaim in this year's White House race. With nine days left until the elections, the Republican president is storming his way through top battleground states in a late push to make up ground against Biden, who leads in national opinion polls.

Opinion polls in many of the most vital swing states that will decide the election show a closer race. New Hampshire, which Trump lost to Democrat Hillary Clinton by about 3,000 votes in 2016, has not been considered a top-tier battleground, and most polls show Biden with a comfortable edge in the New England state. But Trump is running out of time and opportunities to change minds and shift the race in his favor.

More than 56.5 million Americans have already voted in person or by mail, a pace of early voting that could lead to the highest voter turnout rate in more than a century, according to data from the U.S. Elections Project. 

Russia continues to spread coronavirus conspiracies

Along with China and Iran, Russia is ramping up efforts to spread conspiracy theories and disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., according to an internal U.S. intelligence bulletin obtained by ABC News – a development that critics say reflects another example of Trump and the Russians parroting similar talking points.

Powerful covid-19 art installation being prepared in Washington

Art exhibit featuring more than 200,000 flags representing deaths of people who have passed away in the US from from coronavirus is under way, and will be displayed in Washington.

Texas court temporarily reinstates limited ballot drop-off sites

Reuters, Texas. The Texas Supreme Court on Saturday temporarily reinstated the governor’s ban on multiple drop-off sites for mail ballots, in a short-term victory for President Donald Trump.

The ban will remain in effect while the state supreme court fully reviews a Friday appeals court ruling that overturned the order by Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican like the president, who faces Democrat Joe Biden in a race for the White House on Nov. 3.

Trump and Biden offer wildly different messages on coronavirus at rallies

Trump addressed a few thousand supporters at a tightly packed, in-person, outdoor rally in North Carolina, one of the battleground states in the Nov. 3 election. He again said America was turning the corner in the fight against covid-19 and mocked Biden’s more cautious campaigning style.

Biden, a former vice president, addressed supporters in about 130 vehicles at a drive-in rally in the swing state of Pennsylvania and warned of a grim winter ahead unless the Trump administration did a better job of halting the disease, which has killed 224,000 Americans.

Opinion polls show Biden leading Trump nationally, but the race is much closer in the battleground states that will decide the election. Trump was headed to large rallies in two more of those states, Ohio and Wisconsin, later on Saturday. (Via Reuters)

Want to work from home?

Remote working has become the norm for many during the pandemic for those lucky enough to be in a position to do so. If you're looking for an entry-level job that allows you to work from home, CNBC has highlighted 12 that are hiring right now: 

Accounts receivable specialist; Care line registered nurse, on-site solutions; Sales development representative; QA data engineer; Contact tracer; Virtual workshop producer; Customer support advocate; Trial master files representative;E-mail marketing associate; Human resources assistant; QA analyst; English teacher.

Joe Biden warns of a "dark winter"...

...unless Trump manages to control the coronavirus. Democratic rival to the incumbent president Donald Trump, Joe Biden hit the campaign trail on Saturday, speaking at a drive-in rally of supporters in the battleground state of Pennsylvania where he warned of a looming “dark winter” unless the Trump administration does not do a better job at fighting the coronavirus, reported Reuters.

Commander-in-chief mocks reporter for wearing a mask

President Trump has resorted to playground tactics to show he's not scared of covid-19 and doesn't care much for the guidelines.

Coronavirus stimulus checks

Second stimulus check update: US coronavirus relief bill

Mnuchin and Pelosi resort to finger-pointing over stimulus

The roadblock in negotiations continues but both parties claim to have hope.

Why the Pennsylvania vote count might throw U.S. into political crisis

Here in the birthplace of American democracy, election officials are scrambling to prepare for a presidential vote they fear could plunge the nation into a historic political crisis. 

Philadelphia’s Board of Elections plans to move its counting operations to a 125,000-square foot space in the city’s convention center. Dozens of staffers, feeding expensive new machines to open envelopes and process mail-in ballots, will spend days tallying hundreds of thousands of votes - under intense scrutiny from partisan observers. The workers likely will discard thousands of ballots that are not properly completed or do not arrive in a special “secrecy envelope.”

Outside, police officers redeployed from their neighbourhood districts will conduct round-the-clock patrols to guard against violence among protesters.

New Florida resident Trump casts presidential ballot for himself

US President Donald Trump voted in his new home state of Florida on Saturday, casting his ballot for his re-election at a public library across the street from one of his golf clubs. Trump, wearing a mask, voted using a paper ballot. Supporters gathered in the library parking lot chanted 'four more years' as he voted inside.

"It was a very secure vote, much more secure than when you send in a ballot," Trump said, repeating unfounded allegations that mail-in voting is more susceptible to fraud. "I voted for a guy named Trump," he said.

Trump's stop at the voting location in West Palm Beach, Florida, was the first event in what will be a long day on the campaign trail with events in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Trump changed his residency from New York to Florida a year ago. In 2016, he and his wife, Melania, had voted at Public School 59 just a few blocks from Trump Tower in Manhattan. He voted by absentee ballot in the 2018 midterm elections, a White House spokesman said at the time. His vote in Florida, a swing state, is about 5 miles from the oceanfront Mar-a-Lago club that is now his residence. Trump had requested an absentee ballot but decided to vote in person.

"I like being able to vote. I’m old fashioned I guess," Trump told thousands on Friday at a rally at The Villages, Florida. (Reuters)

Democratic US presidential nominee Joe Biden negative for covid-19

Democratic US presidential nominee Joe Biden tested negative for covid-19 on Saturday, his campaign said in a statement.

Biden continues to lead the polls heading towards the 3 November election, with the average of 10 polls putting the Democratic candidate 5 to 6 points ahead of the incumbent Trump.

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to threatening sue...

...  the Lincoln Project over “false, malicious and defamatory” billboards erected in Times Square, New York. The couple have asked for the anti-Tump billboards to be taken down. 

Attorney to the president's daughter, Marc Kasowitz warned that if the ads stay up, “we will sue you for what will doubtless be enormous compensatory and punitive damages.” (via Politico)