BitGou: Thursday Morning Briefing: Worsening U.S. outbreak prompts tough actions

What you need to know about the coronavirus today

Worsening U.S. outbreak prompts tough actions
New Jersey adopted a stringent coronavirus face-mask order on Wednesday, and New York City unveiled a plan to allow public school students back into classrooms for just two or three days a week, as newly confirmed U.S. COVID-19 cases soared to a daily global record.

More than 47,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the two northeastern states, accounting for more than a third of the 132,000-plus Americans killed by the virus, according to a Reuters tally.

Coronavirus cases have been on the rise in 42 of the 50 states over the past two weeks, according to a Reuters analysis.

A controversial campaign rally held by President Donald Trump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last month likely contributed to a rise in the number of coronavirus cases there, a top local health official said on Wednesday.

Brazil's drug debate
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has placed his faith in hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to help his coronavirus-ravaged country and now himself beat COVID-19, turning them into the centerpiece of his government's virus-fighting playbook.

Amid mounting evidence that these drugs have no benefit for hospitalized patients, they are now flashpoints in Brazil's polarized politics.

People's views of the drugs have become something of a referendum on their president, much like masks in the United States.

Good news in South Korea
Just one person in a South Korean survey of more than 3,000 people showed neutralizing antibodies to the novel coronavirus, health authorities said on Thursday, indicating the virus has not spread widely in the community.

South Korea at one time had the most serious outbreak of the coronavirus outside China.

It has had 13,293 cases and 287 deaths and has won praise for handling the pandemic without a full lockdown of its economy.

Silver bullet?
As global public transport operators look for ways to keep the coronavirus at bay on planes, trains and buses, one of Japan's biggest rail firms is betting on the anti-microbial properties of silver to keep passengers safe on the world's busiest subway.

Tokyo's labyrinthine rail network of about 900 stations and roughly 85 lines has seen passenger numbers approach pre-virus levels since the city's de facto lockdown was lifted in late May.

Tokyo Metro, the city's main subway operator, has begun spraying its nearly 3,000 cars with a super-fine atomization of a silver-based compound to repel the virus from surfaces.

From Breakingviews: Corona Capital - British homes, Asian skies
Read concise views on the pandemic’s financial fallout from Breakingviews columnists across the globe.

Reuters reporters and editors around the world are investigating the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

We need your help to tell these stories. Our news organization wants to capture the full scope of what’s happening and how we got here by drawing on a wide variety of sources. Here’s a look at our coverage.

Are you a government employee or contractor involved in coronavirus testing or the wider public health response? Are you a doctor, nurse or health worker caring for patients? Have you worked on similar outbreaks in the past? Has the disease known as COVID-19 personally affected you or your family? Are you aware of new problems that are about to emerge, such as critical supply shortages?

We need your tips, firsthand accounts, relevant documents or expert knowledge. Please contact us at coronavirus@reuters.com.

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Emerging from lockdown

Coronavirus 'Class of 2020': Europe's lost generation?
When Dunia Skaunicova graduated in media marketing from Prague’s Metropolitan university she quickly found a dream first job at a startup in the Czech capital, where companies were fighting to snap up multi-lingual graduates.

Months later, however, she suddenly found herself back looking for work after losing her job as the coronavirus pandemic hit the Czech economy. This time around she is struggling.

Coronavirus stalks cells of Cameroon's crowded prisons
On the morning of April 24, Fritz Takang became so breathless he could barely walk across the cramped cell he shared with 60 inmates at the main prison in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde.

That night, he said, he was evacuated with five others to an apartment complex that was being used to quarantine suspected COVID-19 cases.

With apps and remote medicine, Japan offers glimpse of doctor visits in post-corona era
The coronavirus crisis has prompted Japan to ease regulations on remote medical treatment, creating an opening for tech companies and offering a glimpse of the future of healthcare in the world’s most rapidly aging society.

COVID Science

Gilead Sciences said on Wednesday it has started an early-stage study of its antiviral COVID-19 treatment remdesivir that can be inhaled, for use outside of hospitals.

The company said the trial, which will enroll about 60 healthy Americans aged between 18 and 45, will test the drug particularly in those cases where the disease has not progressed to require hospitalization.

Virus tricks the body into attacking brain; common heartburn drugs linked to coronavirus risk. Read our roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

Click here for a Reuters graphic on vaccines and treatments in development.

U.S.

U.S. Supreme Court to rule on Trump bid to conceal his financial records

The U.S. Supreme Court is due on Thursday to rule on whether Democratic-led congressional committees and a New York City prosecutor can get hold of President Donald Trump’s financial records, including his tax returns, that he has tenaciously sought to keep secret.

Special Report: With ‘judges judging judges,’ rogues on the bench have little to fear

Secretive and cozy judicial oversight systems enable judges to subvert accountability in many states.

Exhibit A: Oklahoma, where not a single judge was publicly disciplined in 14 years. When the state finally did charge a judge with wrongdoing, he was allowed to resign -- his record pristine and his pension intact.

Reuters have published online a first-of-its-kind searchable database of state and local judges who resigned, retired or were publicly disciplined following accusations of misconduct.

Follow the money

Tesla 'very close' to level 5 autonomous driving technology, Musk says

U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla is “very close” to achieving level 5 autonomous driving technology, Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Thursday, referring to the capability to navigate roads without any driver input.

2 min read

Rooftop revolution: Coronavirus chill upends solar power industry

The booming rooftop solar panel industry nosedived overnight when the coronavirus forced homeowners to rein in spending and keep their distance from would-be installers.

Now, in their struggle to survive, companies on both sides of the Atlantic are turning to online marketing rather than knocking on doors, using drones to inspect roofs, arranging digital permits and coming up with attractive new financing plans, according to interviews with 12 executives.

8 min read

The man who led Wirecard into insolvency

On the night of June 18, Wirecard’s new compliance chief stayed up late at his office in the company’s low-rise headquarters in the Munich suburb of Aschheim to pore over the payment firm’s books.

7 min read

Sacred sites blast exposes Australia's laws skewed to mining

When mining giant Rio Tinto blew up two ancient caves in Western Australia’s iron-ore rich Pilbara with state approval, the destruction was met with anger from indigenous landowners for whom the sites were of deep cultural and sacred importance.

See the Reuters graphic on Mining Australia's sacred sites.

8 min read