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: More than 3.2 million
- Global deaths: More than 233,000
The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University as of 8:04 a.m. Beijing time.
All times below are in Beijing time.
11:26 am: Meatpacking plant in Colorado sees uptick in cases as operations restart
The number of reported coronavirus cases more than doubled over a few days at a JBS meatpacking plant in Colorado after reopening nearly a week ago, Reuters reported citing a union official.
The plant in Greeley began operations again last Friday after two weeks of closure as the company sought to stem an outbreak among workers, Reuters reported. The number of confirmed cases at the plant spiked to 245 on Wednesday — from 120 on Sunday, a union spokesperson told Reuters.
“The uptick in cases in a matter of days shows how serious this crisis is and the dangers that workers are facing every day just trying to do their jobs,” Kim Cordova, president of United Food and Commercial Workers, told Reuters.
It comes as President Donald Trump this week invoked the Defense Production Act to mandate that meatpacking plants should remain open, as “closures threaten the continued functioning of the national meat and poultry supply chain.” — Joanna Tan
10:23 am: Major US airlines to require face masks on flights
Major carriers in the U.S. will start requiring passengers and employees who meet customers to wear cloth face coverings throughout the flight, announced trade group Airlines for America. This includes check-in, boarding, in-flight and deplaning, the statement said.
“The requirement to wear a cloth face covering during air travel is just one of the ways carriers are working to protect passengers and employees throughout this crisis,” said the trade group representing the largest U.S. airlines. “Carriers are working around the clock to sanitize cockpits, cabins and key touchpoints — like tray tables, arm rests, seatbelts, buttons, vents, handles and lavatories — with CDC-approved disinfectants.”
Members of the trade group include Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. — Joanna Tan
An art installation depicting dozens of pink aircraft is seen at a parking garage at the San Diego International Airport (SAN) in San Diego, California, U.S., on April 27, 2020.
Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty Images
9:37 am: China reports 12 new cases, says half of them were ‘imported’
China’s National Health Commission said there were 12 new confirmed cases of infection and that six of them were attributed to travelers from overseas. No new deaths were reported but there were 25 additional asymptomatic cases.
Cumulatively, there have been 82,874 confirmed cases of infection reported on the mainland and 4,633 people have died.
On April 17, the cumulative death toll rose substantially after an investigation in the city of Wuhan, where the outbreak was first reported, added 1,290 deaths. — Saheli Roy Choudhury
9:14 am: California will allow marriage licenses to be obtained via video conferences
Adults in California would be able to obtain marriage licenses via videoconferencing for the next 60 days, Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted.
The state has 48,917 confirmed cases of Covid-19, of which 3,497 people are in hospitals, Newsom tweeted. — Saheli Roy Choudhury
9:03 am: Walmart announced new delivery service under two hours
Walmart said its new express delivery service will deliver to customers in less than two hours.
The service is already available across 100 Walmart stores since mid-April. It will be expanded to almost 1,000 stores in early May, according to Walmart. In the weeks after, the service will be rolled out to nearly 2,000 total stores.
Customers can order across more than 160,000 items that Walmart carries, including food, groceries and everyday essentials.
The service will cost $10 on top of existing delivery charges, but Walmart’s Delivery Unlimited customers will pay a flat fee of $10 per express delivery. — Saheli Roy Choudhury
8:47 am: Australia reportedly planning how to restart sporting activities again
The Australian government will meet on Friday to discuss how sporting activities can restart now that daily reported cases in the country dwindle, Reuters reported citing two sources familiar with the details.
“The agenda includes the principles for sport and other recreational activities,” one source told the news agency.
Australia’s National Rugby League said it will resume a 20-round competition on May 28 but it still requires government permission to restart, according to Reuters.
The health ministry said as of 6 a.m. local time Friday, there were 16 new cases. Australia has 6,762 total cases and 92 people have died. — Saheli Roy Choudhury
8:26 am: Smartphone shipments suffer largest on-year decline, IDC says
Global smartphone shipments fell 11.7% on-year in the first three months of 2020, preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) revealed. Phone-makers shipped 275.8 million smartphones for the quarter.
IDC said that while the first quarter usually experiences a “sequential (quarter-over-quarter) decline in shipments,” this is the largest year-over-year decline ever.
China experienced the largest regional decline for the quarter as shipments dropped 20.3% compared to a year ago. Most of China was shut in February for an extended period as part of the country’s efforts to contain the outbreak. “The global dependency on China for its smartphone supply chain also caused major issues as the quarter progressed,” IDC said.
Research firm Counterpoint said its analysis showed the global smartphone market declined 13% on-year in the quarter. — Saheli Roy Choudhury
7:42 am: Tons of fruit and flowers are at risk of spoiling as virus disrupts supply chains
Farmers globally are grappling with excess supplies of their products as their harvests cannot get to their intended customers due to disruptions from lockdowns and movement restrictions.
Some have turned to creative ways to get rid of excess supplies. Belgians have been asked to eat more fries, as more than 750,000 tons of potatoes are at risk of being thrown away; Indian farmers are feeding their cows strawberries, which are normally meant for tourists and ice-cream producers; while companies in the Netherlands are buying up flowers to give away to employees.
“The lockdowns that we are all experiencing across the globe are causing a disruption of labor, so we are not getting people into the fields to produce on farms,” said Michael Strano, a lead principal investigator for disruptive and sustainable technology in agriculture at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology.
“It’s a disruption of worldwide transport and supply chains that is causing this unusual phenomenon of shortages in some areas and excess in others,” he added. — Huileng Tan
7:30 am: Global cases exceed 3.2 million, death toll over 233,000
Over 3.2 million people have been infected worldwide by the coronavirus and more than 233,000 people have died from the respiratory disease Covid-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
A man wearing a mask tries to catch a taxi at Times Square amid the Covid-19 pandemic on April 30, 2020 in New York City.
Johannes Eisele | AFP | Getty Images
The United States reported the most number of cases, with over 1 million infections and more than 62,000 people deaths, Hopkins data showed. Earlier this week, the death toll surpassed American fatalities from the Vietnam War.
Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, France and Germany remain some of the worst-affected countries after the U.S.
The virus outbreak was reported in China’s Hubei province late last year before it spread rapidly to the rest of the world in just four months. — Saheli Roy Choudhury
All times below are in Eastern time.
6:39 pm: Ex-TARP watchdog says Washington is to blame for large companies receiving small business loans
Large companies that received money from the small business loan program are not to blame, according to former TARP watchdog Neil Barofsky.
“You have to go back to the design of the program itself,” Barofsky told CNBC.
“I mean, Congress went out of its way to carve out businesses that have more than 500 employees but are restaurants, chain restaurants,” he said on “Closing Bell.” “They wanted the money to go to chain restaurants.”
Barofsky, an attorney, previously served as the inspector general for the controversial Troubled Asset Relief Program, which Congress passed to stabilize the financial system amid the 2008 crisis.
Publicly traded companies such as Shake Shack, Potbelly and Ruth’s Hospitality Group all received loans through the Paycheck Protection Program but have since announced they were returning the money.
“They participated because they qualified and then there’s this tremendous political backlash,” Barofsky said, specifically referencing Shake Shack as an example. —Kevin Stankiewicz
6:23 pm: Trump suspects coronavirus outbreak came from China lab, doesn’t cite evidence
President Donald Trump said — without offering any evidence — that he has reason to believe that the coronavirus outbreak originated from a laboratory in China.
“I can’t tell you that. I’m not allowed to tell you that,” Trump said when asked what evidence he has seen to make him believe the virus emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
Trump initially was asked by a reporter at a White House event on Thursday about the origins of the virus, and answered, “You have heard all different things. Three or four different concepts as to how it came out.”
“We should have the answer to that in the not-so-distant future and that will determine a lot how I feel about China,” the president said.
But he later was asked by a reporter if he had “seen anything that gives you a high degree of confidence, at this point, that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the source of this virus?”
Trump replied, “Yes, I have,” and then repeated that assertion. —Dan Mangan
Read CNBC’s coverage from the U.S. overnight: Trump fuels theory that virus came from China lab, Big Tech earnings take a hit
