Coronavirus live updates: San Francisco moves further into reopening; former FDA chief warns about hot spots

FAN Editor

New coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to rise in a handful of U.S. states, prompting warnings from some health officials that greater precautions might be necessary to keep the health systems from being overwhelmed. As people grow fatigued from social distancing and other precautions, pharmaceutical and biotech companies are racing forward to develop treatments and a vaccine for the virus. 

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 7.93 million
  • Global deaths: At least 433,919
  • U.S. cases: More than 2.09 million
  • U.S. deaths: At least 115,732

The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Democrats demand transparency on PPP loans

1:54 p.m. ET — House Democrats wrote to the chief executives of some of the country’s largest banks, including J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, demanding documents pertaining to the paycheck protection program.

The Democrats, led by House Majority Whip James Clyburn said they are investigating whether the program has favored “large, well-funded companies” over the smaller ones the program was intended for.

Among the documents they want, they asked for “all internal communications” and policies pertaining to the program and correspondence with the Treasury and Small Business Administration. They also wrote to the Treasury, demanding a detailed list of everyone that applied and received loans from the program. They chastised both the Treasury and SBA for not making the need to prioritize loans for underserved communities a part of the program’s guidance, despite what they say was the original intent of the CARES Act that established the program. —Lauren Hirsch

San Francisco moves further into reopening

Customers of Mission Rock restaurant interact with their waitress on Friday, June 12, 2020, in San Francisco.

Ben Margot | AP

1:28 p.m. ET — San Francisco has moved into Phase 2B of its reopening, joining other Bay Area counties in easing coronavirus restrictions.

The city now allows outdoor dining, indoor shopping at retailers, non-emergency medical appointments and small gatherings, including religious services and ceremonies. Professional sports can resume for broadcast, but cannot have in-person spectators. Summer camps can also open in San Francisco. —Hannah Miller

Trump-backed hydroxychloroquine ‘unlikely to be effective,’ FDA says

A pharmacy tech holds a bottle and a pill of Hydroxychloroquine at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah, on May 20, 2020.

George Frey | Getty Images

1:04 p.m. ET — The Food and Drug Administration announced it is ending its emergency use authorization of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, the drugs backed by President Donald Trump.

The move by the agency comes nearly two weeks after a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found hydroxychloroquine was no better than a placebo in preventing infection of the coronavirus.

The FDA, in its notice, said the drugs were “unlikely to be effective” in treating Covid-19 for the authorized uses in the EUA. The FDA had warned consumers in April against taking the drugs due to the risk of “serious heart rhythm problems” in some patients.

Even though hydroxychloroquine is not a proven treatment for the coronavirus, some people across the world took it after a handful of small studies published earlier in the year suggested it could be beneficial and Trump promoted the drug as a potential treatment for the virus. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

Texas hospitalizations continue to climb

12:40 p.m. ET — The number of patients sickened with Covid-19 across Texas’ hospitals continues to climb with the state reporting its sixth new daily high in less than a week.

Texas was among the first states to relax its statewide stay-at-home order. In the past week, Wednesday was the only day that Texas didn’t set a new record for hospitalizations. It’s likely to add to scrutiny from some U.S. lawmakers that some states, including Texas, opened businesses too early.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that states may need to reimplement the strict social distancing measures that were put in place earlier this year if U.S. coronavirus cases rise “dramatically.” —Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

Mnuchin says he will talk to lawmakers about small business bailout disclosure

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin exits the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after meeting with McConnell and Vice President Mike Pence at the U.S. Capitol on May 19, 2020 in Washington, DC.

Drew Angerer | Getty Images

12:22 p.m. ET — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin revealed that he is planning to discuss small business bailout disclosure with members of the Senate.

Mnuchin said he and the Senate will speak on a “bipartisan basis” about reaching a potential deal that protects the privacy of recipients of small business loans while ensuring proper oversight of the funds.

Mnuchin announced the news in a tweet, saying he will be “having discussions” with the Senate Small Business Committee “to strike the appropriate balance for proper oversight” of the Paycheck Protection Program loans “and appropriate protection of small business information.” —Yelena Dzhanova

The Creative Arts Emmys will be hosted virtually this year

10:10 a.m. ET — The Television Academy announced the precursor ceremony to the Primetime Emmy Awards will be held virtually this year as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus.

The event, which had been scheduled to take place on September 12 and 13, awards those behind-the-scenes working in production, design, set decoration, editing, casting and sound.

The Governors Ball, the official afterparty for the Emmys, has also been canceled.

The Television Academy still plans on hosting the Primetime Emmys on September 20, however it is evaluating safety measures for the ceremony. —Sarah Whitten

U.S. hot spots could ‘quickly get out of control,’ former FDA chief says

9:48 a.m. ET — Without ramped up contact tracing and targeted mitigation strategies, U.S. hot spots could “quickly get out of control,” former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC.

Arizona, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arkansas and a handful of others have seen an increase in cases in recent weeks. While some attribute the rise in cases to increased testing, hospitalizations, which are not tethered to the availability of testing, has also risen in a number of states.

“What these states need to do, what these cities need to do is good contact tracing, not to find every individual who’s infected, but to find the sources of infection, the activities that lead to the infection and take targeted mitigation steps,” Gottlieb said.

When reached for comment on Friday, Arizona’s Maricopa County Public Health spokeswoman Sonia Singh told CNBC that it adjusts staff for “contact tracing up or down as needed in response to case count trends.” She added that 90 additional staff are on the way, half of whom have already started.

Gottlieb added that Arizona could take responsibility for contact tracing efforts away from the counties and centralize the effort under state leadership. —William Feuer

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer and biotech company Illumina.

U.S. restaurant industry lost $120 billion in sales due to pandemic

9:42 a.m. ET — From March through May, the restaurant industry lost $120 billion in revenue, according to the National Restaurant Association.

The latest sales data from the trade group paint a bleak picture of the industry, which is expected to lose $240 billion by the end of the year. Restaurants across the country are reopening, but capacity limits and new rules to maintain social distancing constrain dining room sales.

Three-quarters of restaurant operators say that it’s unlikely that their restaurant will be profitable within the next six months. The NRA surveyed more than 3,800 U.S. restaurant operators between May 15 and May 25. —Amelia Lucas

Dow drops more than 600 points, adding to last week’s sharp losses

9:36 a.m. ET — Stocks opened lower as investors grappled with signs of a second wave of coronavirus cases amid the U.S. economy reopening, reports CNBC’s Fred Imbert and Yun Li. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 608 points at the open, or 2.4%. The S&P 500 slid 1.9% while the Nasdaq Composite traded 1.4% lower. —Melodie Warner 

Red Cross to test all donations for Covid-19 antibodies

Robert Becerra a Mobile Unit Assistant (MUA) for The Red Cross scans the bags and tubes filled with blood at Pechanga Arena on April 14, 2020 in San Diego, California.

Ariana Drehsler | AFP | Getty Images

9:33 a.m. ET — The American Red Cross will test all donated blood, plasma and platelets for Covid-19 antibodies for a limited time. The blood bank is not testing for Covid-19 itself and said people who believe they may be ill with Covid-19 should not offer to donate until they are symptom-free for 28 days and are feeling well and healthy.

Donations given before Monday will not be tested. The organization expects to offer the testing throughout summer months and testing may be extended into the fall. Results will be available around seven to 10 days after donating. —Alex Harring

Delta gets Shanghai government approval to resume flights

9:19 a.m. ET — Delta Air Lines has received approval from the Shanghai government to resume flights from June 18, according to a Reuters report citing a company spokeswoman. 

The airline is still waiting for the Civil Aviation Administration of China to decide on how many flights it can resume and when it can do so, Reuters reported. 

China’s aviation authority has said it would allow foreign airlines to increase flights between the country and other regions from June 8. —Melodie Warner, Reuters 

Europe starts rolling out contact-tracing apps as UK plans remain unclear

Jens Spahn,Federal Minister of Health, speaks in a press statement May 6, 2019.

Kay Nietfeld | picture alliance | Getty Images

8:50 a.m. ET — Germany will launch an app to trace the contacts of coronavirus patients this week, Health Minister Jens Spahn said over the weekend.

The country’s app is being built with the help of Deutsche Telekom and SAP and relies on privacy-focused technology developed by Apple and Google. Italy’s government has also launched an app based on the Apple-Google model, called Immuni.

The U.K., on the other hand, says it will launch its own app “soon,” but the timing of its launch remains unclear. There has been a rift in Europe over whether to use Apple and Google’s “decentralized” approach, with Britain, France and Norway opting for a more centralized model. Norway announced on Monday that it was pausing work on its app after its data protection regulator flagged privacy concerns. —Ryan Browne

U.S. hot spots persist

8:01 a.m. ET — Nationwide, about 21,000 people are infected with the coronavirus in the U.S. every day. But that national figure masks regional trends, which indicate that while the virus is slowing in the Northeast and Midwest, it’s rising in the South and the West, CNBC’s Meg Tirrell reported, citing data from the Covid Tracking Project.

While some continue to attribute the rise in cases to increased testing, data on hospitalizations, which is not tethered to the availability of testing, is also on the rise in a number of states, including Arizona, Texas and North Carolina. Some states, such as Florida, do not report hospitalizations. The cities seeing the fastest case-doubling time are Yakima, Washington; Phoenix, Arizona; Austin, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Tampa, Florida, Tirrell reported, citing data from investment banking firm Evercore ISI.

State officials have responded to the increase of infections in a variety of ways. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has insisted the state’s hospitals are well prepared for a surge in patients. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has paused the state’s reopening for seven days while health officials reexamine the data and trends. —Will Feuer

European nations to pay $843 million for vaccine doses

A pedestrian walks past signage outside an AstraZeneca Plc research and development facility in Shanghai, China, on Monday, June 8, 2020.

Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images

7:24 a.m. ET — Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and France have agreed to pay an initial 750 million euros ($843.2 million) for 300 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine against Covid-19, a spokesperson for Italy’s health ministry said according to a Reuters report.

The countries will have the option to buy a further 100 million doses, the health ministry said, according to the news agency. Italy itself will pay 185 million euros for 75 million doses of the vaccine, which is being developed by Oxford University.

AstraZeneca announced on Saturday it had agreed with the four countries to supply up to 400 million doses of the vaccine, with deliveries starting by the end of 2020. The pharmaceutical said it was building a number of supply chains in parallel across the world and is seeking to expand manufacturing capacity further. Total manufacturing capacity currently stands at 2 billion doses, the company said.

The vaccine is undergoing phase two and three clinical trials with around 10,000 adult volunteers taking part in the late-stage U.K. trial. In a statement Saturday, AstraZeneca said it “recognises that the vaccine may not work but is committed to progressing the clinical programme with speed and scaling up manufacturing at risk.” –Holly Ellyatt

Greece reopens to some foreign visitors in bid to kick-start tourism

People walk in the empty alleys in the town of Oia in the island of Santorini on June 14, 2020 as the country prepares for the return of tourists to Greece from around 30 countries by air, sea and land.

Aris Messinis | AFP | Getty Images

7:16 a.m. ET — In an effort to restart the country’s crucial tourism sector, Greece has reopened its main airports to more international flights, Reuters reported.

Visitors from airports deemed high-risk by the European Union’s aviation safety agency will be tested for the coronavirus and quarantined for up to 14 days if they test positive, according to Reuters. Passengers from Britain and Turkey face greater restrictions, and passengers from other airports will be randomly tested. 

Country-wide restrictions on movement imposed in March helped Greece contain the spread of Covid-19 infections to just above 3,000 cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

“You can come to Greece, you will have a fantastic experience, you can sit on a veranda with this wonderful view, have your nice Assyrtiko wine, enjoy the beach,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Saturday from the Mediterranean island of Santorini, Reuters reported. “But we don’t want you crowded in a beach bar… There are a few things that we won’t allow this summer.”

Tourism employs about 700,000 people and accounts for some 20% of Greece’s economic output, according to Reuters. —Will Feuer

Read CNBC’s previous coronavirus live coverage here: U.S. second wave could stress medical system; India cases spike despite lockdown

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