Coronavirus live updates: Antibody ‘cocktail’ in the works, Amtrak restores more service

The April jobs report showed the U.S. unemployment rate skyrocket to 14.7% after the worst job losses since post-World War II era, as coronavirus restrictions shuttered businesses for the month and put millions out of work. State officials are attempting to thread the needle between reopening parts of the economy and preventing a resurgence of the virus. While the virus appears to be decelerating in some of the nation’s first hot spots like New York, New Jersey and the Detroit-metro area, it is gaining speed elsewhere. 

This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. All times below are in Eastern time. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks. 

• Global cases: More than 3.8 million
• Global deaths: At least 269,881
• U.S. cases: More than 1.2 million
• U.S. deaths: At least 75,852

The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

A coronavirus antibody test from Abbott Laboratories is highly likely to deliver correct results, according to the company, which cited a U.S. study.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine and found that the antibody test had a specificity rate of 99.9% and a sensitivity rate of 100%, Reuters reported Friday. The results indicate a low probability of incorrectly diagnosing a healthy person and no possibility of false negatives.

Antibody tests are considered crucial in getting the country back to work, as the presence of antibodies could potentially signal immunity to re-infection. —Hannah Miller

Italy reported 243 new deaths from the coronavirus, becoming the third country in the world to reach a total of 30,000 deaths, Reuters reported.

The Civil Protection Agency said the country’s total death toll since the outbreak hit the country in February is now 30,201, according to Reuters.

The United States has the highest death toll from the virus with 75,852, and the United Kingdom counts 30,689 fatalities from Covid-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. —Chris Eudaily

Amtrak will introduce a modified schedule for its Acela train service between Washington, D.C. and Boston starting June 1. Amtrak will restore three weekday Acela roundtrips and increase service for its Northeast Regional lines from eight to ten roundtrips.

The railroad service is also implementing new safety measures such as mandatory cashless payments, new glass barriers at station ticket offices and limited seating in dining and cafe areas on trains. Amtrak announced Thursday that it would require employees and passengers to wear facial coverings on trains and in stations. —Hannah Miller

There are almost 4.1 million homeowners skipping monthly mortgage payments, a number much higher than what federal regulators expected. In just the past week, 225,000 more borrowers took advantage of the government mortgage bailout, according to data firm Black Knight.

Homeowners can put off payments for up to 90 days under the CARES Act and then apply for extensions of up to a year. The current total number of forbearances represents $890 billion in unpaid principal, CNBC’s Diana Olick reports. —Hannah Miller

Nearly four out of five unemployed workers sees their layoff as temporary, and economists say that could be a good sign for the economy. The 18 million workers who described themselves as temporarily laid off expect to return to work in six months.

Michelle Meyer, Bank of America head of U.S. economics, said that is a ‘silver lining’ in the dismal April jobs report, which showed a loss of 20.6 million payrolls. But she said “time is of the essence” to get those workers back to their jobs, before they risk becoming permanent layoffs. —Patti Domm 

Tickets for the opening day of Disney‘s Shanghai theme park sold out within minutes of going on sale. 

Shanghai Disneyland, which has been closed since Jan. 25, will reopen to the public on May 11.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the park saw around 80,000 visitors per day. The government has mandated that Disney operate at 30% capacity, or about 24,000 visitors, when it reopens. However, CEO Bob Chapek said the park will start operations below that capacity and ramp up to the 30% threshold over the course of several weeks.

Guests are required to purchase their admission tickets prior to arriving at the park and will need to wear masks while in the park, except when eating. —Sarah Whitten

While some restaurants and bars will reopen with limited capacity sooner rather than later, the sector is likely to face widespread decimation, according to industry and health experts.

Establishments already hurt by prolonged closures will face steep costs to reopen their doors and sharp cuts to profit margins because of capacity limits.

And even if restaurants find it economically feasible to reopen, there’s no guarantee Americans would feel safe enough to show up in the numbers necessary for a recovery. In fact, 68% percent of Americans say they would feel uncomfortable eating at a restaurant, according to a late April survey from SAP’s Qualtrics, the employee management software company. —Amelia Lucas

The leisure and hospitality sector lost 47% of its jobs in April as the broader U.S. economy shed more positions last month than in any other since before World War II. The vast majority of the sector’s 7.7 million decline was concentrated in the food service industry, including waiters, chefs and cashiers. Those workers alone saw net job losses total 5.5 million.

Health care, too, saw a steep decline of 1.4 million jobs as providers paused elective surgeries and regular check-ups to prioritize preparation for, and treatment of, Covid-19 patients. —Thomas Franck

Biopharma company Sorrento Therapeutics and Mount Sinai Health System in New York City announced they have joined forces to develop an antibody cocktail called COVI-SHIELD they hope will shield against Covid-19 infection for up to two months.

This therapy is designed to be resistant to future virus mutations since it uses three neutralizing antibodies to ward off the disease.

Utilizing an FDA-approved diagnostic test under Emergency Use Authorization, Mount Sinai researchers have screened approximately 15,000 Covid-19 convalescent patients for highly concentrated, virus-neutralizing antibodies that will be used to produce the treatment.

The jury is still out on how effective antibody treatment is against Covid-19. The FDA is currently trying to discern what level of immunity people have after they have recovered from the virus. —Lori Ioannou

Moderna anticipates it will work “very closely” with the U.S. government to determine who will get the first doses of its experimental vaccine if it is proven to work, CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC. The company announced Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration cleared its potential vaccine for a phase 2 trial.

“We will all be supply constrained for quite some time, meaning we won’t be able to make as many product as will be required to vaccinate everyone on the planet,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Read the full report on the Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel interview from CNBC’s William Feuer. —Melodie Warner

Tesla will attempt to restart production at its U.S. car plant in Fremont, California on Friday afternoon, CEO Elon Musk told employees in an e-mail sent overnight. The plant would resume “limited operations” by bringing back around 30% of the employees that would normally work on a given shift, said Tesla’s HR boss, Valerie Capers Workman, in a separate e-mail.

Alameda County, where the plant is located,  has a shelter-in-place order effective through May 31, according to the county Public Health Department website.

Read the full report on Tesla’s Fremont plant operations from CNBC’s Lora Kolodny. —Melodie Warner

The U.S. labor market in April dropped to historic levels as 20.5 million workers were slashed from nonfarm payrolls, sending the unemployment rate skyrocketing to 14.7%, according to the Labor Department. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting payrolls to shed 21.5 million and the unemployment rate to go to 16%.

April’s unemployment rate topped the post-war record 10.8% but was short of the Great Depression high estimated at 24.9%. The financial crisis peak was 10% in October 2009.

Read the full report on the U.S. labor market from CNBC’s Jeff Cox. —Melodie Warner

The seafood market in Wuhan, China, played a role in the outbreak, but more research is needed to determine whether it’s the source of the virus or was an “amplifying setting,” the World Health Organization said, according to Reuters.

WHO officials previously said the coronavirus emerged from a seafood market in Wuhan and likely originated in bats, then jumped to an “intermediate host” before infecting humans. Scientists continue to run tests on various animals but have so far not found the host responsible for the outbreak.

“The market played a role in the event, that’s clear. But what role [was] we don’t know, whether it was the source or amplifying setting or just a coincidence that some cases were detected in and around that market,” said Dr. Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO expert on food safety and zoonotic viruses, Reuters reported.

The WHO is in talks with China to send a follow-up mission to the country to investigate the animal source of the virus, a WHO official said Wednesday. —Will Feuer

Indonesia is easing bans on domestic air and sea travel earlier than planned, according to Reuters.

The country two weeks ago put in place bans on certain domestic travel with the intention to keep restrictions in place until the end of May. The government has lifted those restrictions for Indonesians who work in security, defense and health services; those who have emergency health reasons; and migrant workers returning home, Reuters reported.

Travelers must have tested negative for Covid-19 and have a letter from their employer. —Sara Salinas

Read CNBC’s coverage from CNBC’s Asia-Pacific and Europe teams overnight here: Spain reports uptick in daily deaths; Australia plans reopening in 3 stages