Coronavirus live updates: Study finds U.S. death toll is undercounted by up to 28% as new daily cases continue to climb

White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Tuesday the U.S. coronavirus outbreak is “going to be very disturbing” if it continues on its current trajectory. States with surging outbreaks continue to pause and rollback efforts to reopen the economy while others that have found some success in fighting the virus, particularly in the Northeast, roll out more domestic travel restrictions to protect their progress. In Europe, nations continue to open borders and lift restrictions as infection rates there trend downward. 

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 10.49 million
• Global deaths: At least 511,851
• U.S. cases: More than 2.63 million
• U.S. deaths: At least 127,425

The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

2:15 p.m. ET — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned that coronavirus outbreaks across the U.S. are getting worse and could threaten New York’s recovery after stringent lockdowns across the state helped suppress the fast-spreading infection.

“We have dark clouds on the horizon and we’ve made tremendous progress,” Cuomo said at a press briefing. “We’ve been through Hell and back, but this is not over and this can still rear its ugly head anywhere in this nation and in this state.”

Cuomo said he’s concerned about New York City, where compliance with face covering requirements and social distancing guidelines are declining. He also criticized local leaders for not enforcing compliance. —Noah Higgins-Dunn

2:04 p.m. ET — As some countries struggle to ease restrictions and reopen businesses while preventing coronavirus outbreaks, they might have to reimplement severe restrictions or lockdowns, a top World Health Organization official said.

“Some countries who have had success in suppressing transmission who are opening up now may have a setback, may have to implement interventions again, may have to implement these so-called lockdowns again,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said. “We hope not. We hope that we won’t have to go into widespread lockdown again. So it’s not too late to act fast.”

Some countries, including Spain and Italy, were able to effectively fight severe outbreaks, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

“However, we’re concerned some countries have not used all the tools at their disposal and have taken a fragmented approach. These countries face a long, hard road ahead,” he said. “But one of the lessons of pandemic is that no matter what situation a country is in, it can be turned around. It’s never too late.” —Will Feuer

1:47 p.m. ET — The U.S. needs a higher capacity and more even distribution of coronavirus testing to accurately capture outbreak levels, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC.

Gottlieb warned even the current testing levels of 500,000 Covid-19 tests per day is not enough to detect all new patients. He also expressed concern with where tests are going, saying Texas and Florida are falling behind in testing because resources are not equally distributed across the country, CNBC’s Will Feuer reports.

“There’s a lot of conversations going on right now about deploying testing in the workplace and also in schools and I’ve been privy to some of those conversations with my proximity to some of the testing companies,” Gottlieb said. “Employers don’t want to be the ones getting the results, taking possession of the tests, so there’s been a reluctance to leap right now.”

Gottlieb’s comments come after White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that the U.S. could hit over 100,000 new cases per day if the country stays on its current trajectory. Gottlieb asserted that the country is already at that benchmark, the testing just can’t keep up. —Alex Harring

1:30 p.m. ET — The coronavirus pandemic took its toll on U.S. vehicle sales in the second quarter as the disease caused consumers to stay at home and dealerships and factories to shutter.

General Motors, Toyota Motor and Fiat Chrysler on Wednesday reported more than 30% sales declines for the second quarter compared to 2019. Nissan Motor said its sales were essentially cut in half from a year ago, down 49.5%.

The hefty declines are in-line with what Wall Street expected as most U.S., European and Asian automakers report their second-quarter auto sales Wednesday.

U.S. vehicle sales were forecast to fall by about 34% in the second quarter, according to auto research firms Edmunds and TrueCar’s ALG. The second quarter is expected to be the worst of the year for the automakers due to the pandemic. 

Both GM and Fiat Chrysler said full-size pickup truck sales perform exceptionally well, and overall sales showed signs of recovery, especially deliveries to retail customers. —Michael Wayland

1:12 p.m. ET — As companies adjust to remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic, Cisco is seeing a boost from customers turning to its products for video conferencing and security, CEO Chuck Robbins told CNBC on “Squawk Box.”

Robbins also said Cisco’s emphasis on privacy and security sets its video conferencing software WebEx apart from competitors like Zoom.

“For the consumers, a simple solution is good,” he said. “For our high-end enterprise customers, they still lean on WebEx to provide the privacy and security that they need.” —Michelle Gao

12:54 p.m. ET — Arizona reported nearly 4,900 new coronavirus cases and 88 new deaths on Wednesday, a record single-day spike in both indicators ahead of Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to the state later in the day.

The state confirmed a total of 84,092 positive cases and 1,720 deaths so far. Its previous single-day high in the number of new cases was 3,593 on June 23.

While a potential lag in data reporting of the daily case numbers and ramped up testing capabilities could account for the rise in positive Covid-19 cases, the number of hospitalizations also steadily increased over the past weeks.

The record surge in daily cases comes as Pence is scheduled to arrive in Phoenix later on Wednesday to meet Gov. Doug Ducey to discuss the state’s effort to curb the spread of the virus. Last weekend, Pence postponed his “Faith in America” 2020 campaign events in Arizona and Florida “out of an abundance of caution.” —Jasmine Kim

12:35 p.m. ET — Airlines’ seating policies during the Covid-19 pandemic are diverging with carriers like Delta, Southwest and JetBlue limiting the number of seats they sell on each flight, and American and United booking flights to capacity, but warning travelers about crowded planes.

United’s chief communications officer Wednesday scoffed at the idea that keeping seats open could protect travelers from the disease.

“When it comes to blocking middle seats, that’s a PR strategy, that’s not a safety strategy,” Josh Earnest told reporters. “When you’re on board the aircraft, if you’re sitting in the aisle and the middle seat is empty, the person across the aisle is within six feet from you, the person at the window is within six feet of you, the people in the row in front of you are within six feet of you, the person in the row behind you are within six feet of you.”

United and American have pointed to other measures that they’ve implemented, such as enhanced cleaning procedures, using touchless kiosks and requiring that all travelers were masks. —Leslie Josephs

12:08 p.m. ET — A new study published in the JAMA Internal Medicine found the number of confirmed U.S. deaths due to the virus could be undercounted by as much as 28%.

Researchers at Yale University, which were supported by the National Institue of Health, compared the number of excess U.S. deaths with the reported number of U.S. Covid-19 deaths from March 1 through May 30. Deaths from the virus reached 95,235, about 28% less than the excess number.

However, state reporting discrepancies and a sharp increase in U.S. deaths amid a pandemic suggest the number of Covid-19 fatalities is actually undercounted, the researchers said.

“Our analyses suggest that the official tally of deaths due to Covid-19 represent a substantial undercount of the true burden,” Dan Weinberger, an epidemiologist at Yale School of Public Health and a lead author on the study, told CNBC. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

11:43 a.m. ET — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city will not allow indoor dining to resume next week as originally scheduled due to growing coronavirus outbreaks in other parts of the country. De Blasio said that outdoor dining, which was allowed to reopen on June 22, has “unquestionably” been a great hit and “outdoors has been working.”

“We see a lot of problems and we particularly see problems revolving around people going back to bars and restaurants indoors. Indoors is the problem more and more, the science is showing it more and more,” de Blasio said at a press briefing.

Other businesses including nail salons were previously scheduled to reopen next week. De Blasio did not comment on the status of those roepening efforts. —Noah Higgins-Dunn

10:30 a.m. ET — Macy’s told analysts that sales are falling again in states where Covid-19 cases are on the rise, and the department store operator expects this pattern could play out as the crisis continues.

In Texas, for example, Macy’s had said sales were ticking up as the local economy was reopening. About two weeks ago, however, as Covid-19 cases surged the company saw a 15-point sales drop in the state, according to CEO Jeff Gennette. Macy’s said overall sales at its stores are currently down about 35% from year-ago levels. That is the trend the retailer expects for the remainder of the year.

“We are taking the conservative view and pulling that trend through the back half of the year. If trends improve, we will react aggressively to meet customer demands,” Gennette said. —Lauren Thomas

10:20 a.m. ET — Cameron Champ, a professional U.S. golfer, immediately withdrew from the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship last Tuesday and announced plans to self-isolate after testing positive for the coronavirus. But five days later, he said he tested negative three times, raising questions about the accuracy of the tests that are being used by professional sports to screen players before big games.

Five PGA Tour golfers have tested positive for the coronavirus since the outdoor, non-contact sport resumed its games in June and eight withdrew from the Travelers tournament. Despite safety precautions, several caddies have also tested positive.

However, a spokeswoman from the PGA Tour explained that Champ’s test wasn’t a false positive. “An initial positive is a positive test, and there is a medical explanation of what happens from there,” Neal said in a statement, citing data from PGA’s official coronavirus testing partner Sanford Health.

Molecular tests such as the nasopharyngeal PCR test used by the PGA Tour have the lowest false positive rates out of the three main types of diagnostic Covid-19 tests: molecular, antigen and serology, physicians say. —Jasmine Kim

9:58 a.m. ET — Pfizer released positive results from an early stage human trial testing its coronavirus vaccine candidate, CNBC’s Berkeley Lovelace Jr. reports. The trial included 45 participants who received 10, 30 or 100 microgram doses of the vaccine or a placebo.

The vaccine produced neutralizing antibodies in those who received two of the 10 or 30 microgram doses after 28 days, according to the preliminary data in a paper published on MedRXiv. Neutralizing antibodies are important for acquiring protection against the virus and their levels were 1.8 to 2.8 times higher in trial participants than in recovered coronavirus patients, according to researchers.

Pfizer, which has been working alongside German drugmaker BioNTech, said the vaccine was well-tolerated, though it caused fever in some patients and pain at the injection site for most trial participants. —Hannah Miller

9:53 a.m. ET — Capri Holdings, the owner of Michael Kors, expects a 70% decrease in first-quarter sales as demand for its luxury handbags and dresses is hampered by the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported.

The company said business has started to resume in certain areas where lockdowns have been pulled back, but it does not expect a quick rebound quickly as the global economy enters a deep recession.

Capri said sales have been stronger than expected at reopened stores, but shipments to department stores remained low. —Alex Harring

9:19 a.m. ET — Private payrolls rose by 2.369 million in June, slightly lower than the 2.5 million estimate, but still indicative of workers heading back to their jobs.

ADP reported that the biggest gain came from the hard-hit hospitality sector, which saw an increase of 961,000. Services jobs overall rose by 1.9 million.

The total monthly gain came after an increase of nearly 3.1 million in May, a number revised sharply higher from the initially reported loss of 2.76 million.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said the revision was merely an adjustment to the Labor Department’s official count of a 2.5 million gain for May, which was far above the estimate for an 8 million-job loss. —Jeff Cox

9:13 a.m. ET — Thousands of people gathered for a street party in the Czech Republic’s capital city to celebrate a “symbolic farewell” to the coronavirus pandemic.

Guests were invited to sit at a 500-meter-long table on Prague’s Charles Bridge, a 14th-century landmark that crosses the Vltava River, to share food and drinks with their neighbors.

The event was held in the absence of any social-distancing measures, despite an uptick in the number of coronavirus cases reported in the Czech Republic last week.

To date, the EU state of approximately 10 million people has recorded 11,960 coronavirus cases, with 349 deaths nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. —Sam Meredith

9:04 a.m. ET — Macy’s swung to a first-quarter loss as the coronavirus pandemic nearly sliced sales in half, reports CNBC’s Lauren Thomas.

Chief Executive Jeff Gennette said that nearly all of the company’s stores have since reopened and are performing ahead of expectations this month. He also said the department store chain continues to expect a “gradual sales recovery,” without providing specifics.

“We do not anticipate another full shutdown, but we are staying flexible and are prepared to address increases in cases on a regional level,” he said. —Melodie Warner

8:31 a.m. ET — An average of 482,727 people a day people passed through U.S. airport security checks points in June, more than double the number the Transportation Security Administration logged in May. But June’s numbers were less than a fifth of what TSA registered during June 2019.

The recent recovery is a challenge for airlines who want to capitalize on renewed demand from cooped up customers but also need to keep costs low.

United, for example, said it plans to add 25,000 flights in August, but that its domestic schedule will still be half of what it flew in 2019 and its international schedule just a quarter of August last year. —Leslie Josephs

8:18 a.m. ET — Google announced Tuesday its U.S. offices will remain closed until Sept. 7 due to rising coronavirus cases in some states, Reuters reported.

The company was originally planning to reopen some buildings at roughly 10% capacity in July with the possibility to increase capacity to 30% in September. But a Google spokesperson confirmed an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg stating no offices would reopen before Sept. 7.

Google’s decision comes after coronavirus cases have at least doubled in 14 states in June, according to Reuters’ tally. Chris Rackow, Google’s vice president of global security, noted in the memo that “Covid-19 is still very much alive.” —Alex Harring

8:16 a.m. ET — With 40,000 new cases daily, the growth in the spread of Covid-19 is threatening the economic rebound.

Several economists told CNBC they are not yet ready to change their forecasts for a snapback in the third quarter, but they are monitoring the situation as states shutdown activities or hold off reopenings in response. In the second quarter, the economic shutdown was expected to have caused a more than 30% contraction in gross domestic product.

By the third quarter, economists surveyed by CNBC/Moody’s Analytics expect a median gain of 13.5% for the third quarter. —Patti Domm

7:23 a.m. ET — Germany has posted several pieces of positive data with retail sales in May, and unemployment data for June, both surprising to the upside.

Retail sales in May rose 13.9% from the previous month, Germany’s federal statistics office said, while the latest unemployment data released by its Labor Office Wednesday showed that the number of people out of work rose by 69,000 in June. That was a far lower number than the 120,000 forecast by analysts polled by Reuters.

Germany’s respected Ifo institute said that it expected the economy to have contracted 11.9% in the second quarter but it forecast growth of 6.9% in the third quarter, and 3.8% in the fourth quarter. —Holly Ellyatt

Ryanair has seen “very strong” bookings through the first two weeks of July, but the company expects ticket prices to remain lower than ever for about 12 months, CEO Michael O’Leary told Reuters.

Ticket prices are unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2022 or 2023, he said, according to Reuters. He added that he expects the company to fly 4.5 million passengers in July and between 5.5 million and 6 million in August.

O’Leary’s comments come after much of the European Union has lifted border restrictions that were prompted by the coronavirus pandemic and has begun to open to travelers from outside of the blog. Travelers from a list of 15 countries can now travel to the E.U., though the U.S. is not among them. —Will Feuer