This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks.
- Global cases: At least 3,113,447.
- Global deaths: At least 216,930.
- Most cases reported: United States (1,011,877), Spain (232,128), Italy (201,505), France (169,053), and United Kingdom (162,350).
The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University as of 8:30 a.m. Beijing time.
All times below are in Beijing time.
10:40 am: China to hold annual meeting two months later than planned
China’s parliament will hold its annual meeting on May 22 — two months later than originally planned due to the pandemic, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
It said the 13th National People’s Congress to be held in Beijing can now go on as the coronavirus situation in the country has improved, according to the report.
The National People’s Congress, with about 3,000 delegates, typically gathers for a session lasting at least 10 days in Beijing, to pass legislation and unveil key economic targets for the year. — Weizhen Tan
9:55 am: Australia to ramp up coronavirus testing
Australia is set to begin widespread testing after securing 10 million Covid-19 test kits, according to a Reuters report citing Health Minister Greg Hunt. The state of Victoria, for instance, said it would set up mobile centers for people to do testing in their homes, offices and while shopping.
The country plans to expand testing this week to those who are not showing symptoms, the report said. The government has said such testing is essential for lifting restrictions and lockdowns. Australia has already started to gradually reopen. — Weizhen Tan
9:10 am: UK start-ups raised $825 million during virus lockdown, but less deals are being made
New research suggests British start-ups have raised £663 million ($825 million) since the coronavirus lockdown began in the country, shrugging off the economic downturn in the process.
The study — carried out by workspace provider Plexal and start-up database Beauhurst — focused on funding rounds between March 23 and April 27, analyzing nearly 30,000 businesses.
It found that British start-ups raised 34% more this year than they did during the same period last year. The rise is thought to be a result of investors allocating additional funding to ensure the survival of start-ups in their portfolio. — Sam Shead
8:25 am: China reports 22 new cases, no deaths
China reported 22 new cases as of April 28, according to its National Health Commission (NHC). It attributed 21 cases to travelers coming from overseas. That takes the country’s total to 82,858 cases, according to government data.
There were no new deaths, with total fatalities remaining at 4,633, according to the NHC.
A Chinese woman wears a protective mask as she sits on the back of a scooter at an intersection on April 24, 2020 in Beijing, China.
Kevin Frayer | Getty Images
Separately, there were 26 new asymptomatic cases, where people tested positive for the virus but did not show any symptoms. That brings its number of asymptomatic cases currently under medical observation to 993, the NHC said. — Weizhen Tan
8:10 am: Mexico reports jump of 1,223 new cases
Mexico reported an increase of 1,223 new cases, taking its tally to 16,752, according to Reuters.
The country said there were 135 more deaths, to a total of 1,569 fatalities, the report said. According to Mexico’s government, the actual number of infections is significantly higher than confirmed cases. — Weizhen Tan
8:08 am: Samsung says it expects virus to hit demand for key products
Tech giant Samsung said it expects a likely decline in overall earnings for the three months ending in June compared to the previous quarter.
It said sales and profits of set products business, which includes smartphones and TVs, are “expected to decline significantly as COVID-19 affects demand and leads to store and plant closures globally.”
In fact, the tech giant said it expects smartphone demand to “drop sharply in most regions” due to the economic downturn caused by the pandemic and added that there’s a possibility it might delay or cut back its 5G investment in the second quarter.
Still, it expects robust demand for its main profit-making memory business as more people work from home. Samsung’s memory components are used in smartphones and data centers. — Saheli Roy Choudhury
All times below are in Eastern time.
7:07 pm: Trump says US will be able to run 5 million tests per day ‘very soon,’ despite shortages
President Donald Trump said the U.S. will “very soon” run 5 million coronavirus tests per day, even as the lack of testing remains an obstacle for many states anxious to reopen for business.
“We’ll increase it, and it’ll increase it by much more than that in the very near future,” Trump said when a reporter asked if he’s confident the U.S. will reach 5 million tests per day, as some health experts say would be required to “reopen” the country.
The U.S. is currently nowhere near conducting 5 million tests a day. In fact, the most tests the nation has run on a single day was 314,182 on April 22, according to data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project. The U.S. has run just 5.7 million total Covid-19 tests since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the volunteer project designed to track testing data launched last month by The Atlantic.
That puts the nation woefully behind where its testing capacity needs to be. At the average rate of around 157,000 tests run a day in April, according to the project, it would take almost 6 years to test everyone in the U.S. — just once. Health-care workers and other first responders need to be tested often. New York state is requiring private companies that want to bring their employees back to work to test them frequently. —Will Feuer, Christina Wilkie, Kevin Breuninger
6:37 pm: The Academy changes rules for 2021 Oscars
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has altered its Oscar eligibility rules in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The board of governors approved a temporary change that would allow streamed films to be eligible for its coveted annual award ceremony.
“The Academy firmly believes there is no greater way to experience the magic of movies than to see them in a theater,” David Rubin, Academy president, and Dawn Hudson, CEO of the Academy, said in a joint statement. “Our commitment to that is unchanged and unwavering.”
“Nonetheless, the historically tragic Covid-19 pandemic necessitates this temporary exception to our awards eligibility rules,” they said. —Sarah Whitten
6:15 pm: The US coronavirus death toll surpasses American casualties from the Vietnam War
U.S. officials and public health specialists have repeatedly compared the country’s coronavirus mitigation efforts to that of a war, and now Covid-19 has taken more U.S. lives than the Vietnam War.
The U.S. National Archives says that 58,220 American soldiers died in the Vietnam conflict, which began in 1955 and ended in 1975. Covid-19 has now claimed more lives in the U.S. since it officially arrived in the country in January, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Covid-19 has killed 58,365 people so far in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins. —Will Feuer
2:07 pm: US coronavirus cases top 1 million
The coronavirus has now infected more than 1 million people in the United States as the nation grapples with roughly a third of all global cases — making it the worst outbreak in the world, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
A large portion of U.S. Covid-19 cases remain in New York state, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo is currently testing about 20,000 people a day for the virus and is working with President Donald Trump to double that number.
The virus has touched every state in the U.S., disrupting daily life for millions of Americans as state and local leaders have shuttered nonessential businesses to try to curb the pandemic, putting record numbers of people out of work. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr.
Read CNBC’s coverage from the U.S. overnight: US coronavirus cases top 1 million, lawmakers urge airlines to make face masks mandatory
