Good morning.
We’re covering the rise in the number of coronavirus infections in the U.S. to four million, an expected retaliation from China against the U.S. and the heavy-handed pandemic response in the Philippines.
TK TK. Ignore this if there is no breaking news. If there is a breaking item, unstash this and the rule before.
U.S. surpasses four million cases The U.S. coronavirus caseload, the world’s biggest, passed four million on Thursday. The numbers of daily hospitalizations and deaths were also on the rise.
Public health experts have warned that the actual number of people infected is far higher than the number of reported cases, and could be up to 13 times as high in some regions.
California and Texas are among the states setting daily records for new infections. More than 143,000 people have died in the U.S., according to a Times database.
Here are the latest updates and maps tracking the pandemic.
In other developments:
Romania reimposed restrictions after daily new infections more than tripled during the past month to over 1,000.
Belgium’s prime minister issued broad mask-wearing requirements, including for pedestrians outdoors, and warned of even stricter measures if infections continued to rise.
China’s National Health Commission announced new safety guidelines for the country’s meat processors, citing outbreaks at plants in the U.S., Germany and Britain, and the high risks of transmission in crowded processing plants.
Case surges could be slowed if the world’s poorest people received a temporary basic income, enabling them to stay at home, according to a United Nations report.
China wants to punish the U.S., but not too much China has vowed to retaliate in kind for the closure of its consulate in Houston and other U.S. actions, but senior officials in Beijing are hoping to do so without endangering the economy or inviting global isolation.
Behind the scenes, Chinese leaders seem to have little desire to further escalate the tensions, concerned that any strong moves could play into President Trump’s hands as he mounts his re-election campaign.
But the furor is also inflaming anti-American sentiment in China and emboldening more hawkish voices. Nationalists are calling for China to go further than a measured tit-for-tat response and even consider shutting down the American Consulate in Hong Kong.
Latest Updates: Global Coronavirus Outbreak Updated 2020-07-23T10:30:23.915Z
California and Texas are among the states setting new daily records. Landlords are jumping the gun as an eviction moratorium wanes. For workers who cobble together employment, the pandemic has exposed deep holes in the safety net. See more updates
More live coverage: Markets
Related: Cybersecurity researchers have found a vulnerability in an app that helps power popular Chinese-made consumer drones, highlighting U.S. officials’ concerns that Beijing could get access to information about Americans.
An Indian political force fades, and Modi gets stronger The Indian National Congress party led the country to independence more than 70 years ago. Recently, though, it’s been cracking under the weight of huge victories by the Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Congress got another jolt this month when Sachin Pilot, who represented the party as deputy chief minister in the northern state of Rajasthan, was accused of secretly working on behalf of Mr. Modi’s party.
The B.J.P. has seized on the turmoil, steadily undermining Congress in the few states that it still controls. And Mr. Modi constantly accuses Congress of being a family dynasty.
Response: Mr. Pilot has denied the allegations, but Rajasthan’s Legislature could still remove him and other rebel officials.
If you have 30 minutes, this is worth it Climate and the coming mass migration
As their land fails them, hundreds of millions of people will be forced to choose between flight or death. The result will almost certainly be the greatest wave of global migration the world has seen.
The Times Magazine and ProPublica joined with the Pulitzer Center to model, for the first time, how people will move across borders. With every degree of temperature increase, roughly a billion people may be pushed outside the zone in which humans have lived for thousands of years.
Here’s what else is happening Nazi conviction: A juvenile court in Germany convicted a 93-year-old man for helping the Nazis murder thousands of people when he was a 17-year-old concentration camp guard, possibly one of the last verdicts to be handed down to a living Holocaust participant.
South Korea’s most wanted man: Yoo Hyuk-kee, 48, was arrested in the U.S. this week on extradition request. South Korean prosecutors accuse him of embezzlement that helped create unsafe conditions on the Sewol ferry, which sank in 2014, killing more than 300 people, many of them high school students.
Obama-Biden video: Former Vice President Joe Biden has released a video of a conversation with former President Barack Obama that cast the current occupant of the White House as unworthy and Mr. Biden as the perfect leader to replace him.
Uighur forced labor: More than 190 organizations in 36 countries are calling on clothing brands to cut all ties with suppliers implicated in Uighur forced labor in China. Targets include Adidas, Lacoste, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Ralph Lauren and the PVH Corporation, which owns labels including Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein.
Climate change lawsuit: A 23-year-old law student has filed a class-action suit accusing the Australian government of failing to disclose financial risks from climate change.
Saudi king’s health: King Salman, 84, had surgery to remove his gallbladder, the royal court said. His recent hospitalization has revived speculation about his health.
Snapshot: Above, China’s Long March 5 rocket blasting off from Wenchang Space Launch Center on Thursday on its way to Mars. The Tianwen-1 mission — which combines an orbiter, lander and rover — is scheduled to arrive at the red planet in February 2021.
Dueling albums: Taylor Swift and Kanye West, who have been linked since the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009, are set to tangle again when they both release new records today.
What we’re reading: BuzzFeed News’s Q. and A. with coronavirus experts on whether they’re taking vacations, and if so, how. “A lot of them are too busy to take off, which many of us in news can relate to,” says the Briefings editor, Andrea Kannapell. “But some of them are, and I plan to follow their advice.”
The Coronavirus Outbreak ？ Frequently Asked Questions Updated July 23, 2020
What is school going to look like in September? It is unlikely that many schools will return to a normal schedule this fall, requiring the grind of online learning, makeshift child care and stunted workdays to continue. California’s two largest public school districts — Los Angeles and San Diego — said on July 13, that instruction will be remote-only in the fall, citing concerns that surging coronavirus infections in their areas pose too dire a risk for students and teachers. Together, the two districts enroll some 825,000 students. They are the largest in the country so far to abandon plans for even a partial physical return to classrooms when they reopen in August. For other districts, the solution won’t be an all-or-nothing approach. Many systems, including the nation’s largest, New York City, are devising hybrid plans that involve spending some days in classrooms and other days online. There’s no national policy on this yet, so check with your municipal school system regularly to see what is happening in your community. Is the coronavirus airborne? The coronavirus can stay aloft for hours in tiny droplets in stagnant air, infecting people as they inhale, mounting scientific evidence suggests. This risk is highest in crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation, and may help explain super-spreading events reported in meatpacking plants, churches and restaurants. It’s unclear how often the virus is spread via these tiny droplets, or aerosols, compared with larger droplets that are expelled when a sick person coughs or sneezes, or transmitted through contact with contaminated surfaces, said Linsey Marr, an aerosol expert at Virginia Tech. Aerosols are released even when a person without symptoms exhales, talks or sings, according to Dr. Marr and more than 200 other experts, who have outlined the evidence in an open letter to the World Health Organization. What are the symptoms of coronavirus? Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days. What’s the best material for a mask? Scientists around the country have tried to identify everyday materials that do a good job of filtering microscopic particles. In recent tests, HEPA furnace filters scored high, as did vacuum cleaner bags, fabric similar to flannel pajamas and those of 600-count pillowcases. Other materials tested included layered coffee filters and scarves and bandannas. These scored lower, but still captured a small percentage of particles. Does asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19 happen? So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “very rare,” but she later walked back that statement.
Now, a break from the news
Cook: This chicken and celery salad with wasabi-tahini dressing is equally delicious cold or at room temperature and can be tucked into soft potato rolls for sandwiches.
Listen: Among female-led New Wave bands, the Cosmopolitans and the Spiders are less known than Kate Bush or Blondie, but equally worth a listen.
Do: Changing the way we breathe can influence weight, athletic performance, allergies, asthma, snoring, mood, stress, focus and so much more. You can learn to breathe better with these exercises.
At Home has our full collection of ideas on what to read, cook, watch, and do while staying safe at home.
And now for the Back Story on … A harsh virus response in the Philippines With more than 70,000 infections and 1,800 deaths, the Philippines has been hit hard by the coronavirus. President Rodrigo Duterte has empowered the police to go home to home searching for the sick, and warned that anyone not wearing a mask will be arrested.
Jason Gutierrez, who is based in Manila, spoke to our colleagues from the Coronavirus Briefing about the government’s heavy-handed approach.
What is the status of the virus in the Philippines?
The government hasn’t really been upfront about what’s happening. President Duterte just said that all we can do is wait for the experts in the United States or China to develop a vaccine and basically advised the public to follow the rules or risk arrest.
Our Health Ministry is seen by many as really inefficient. It lets Mr. Duterte say what he wants to say and does not clarify it in public.
What is the situation in Manila?
People in the city have to go through checkpoints, and cops go around some areas in fatigues, like they’re going into battle. Some carry large firearms. It’s worrying because it’s militarizing the response.
In some areas, especially the impoverished parts, people are really afraid to leave their homes and are basically told to just wait it out for food and medical advice or risk being arrested.
What has the response been to President Duterte saying the police would arrest people who didn’t wear masks?
In a lot of places, you see people in public always wearing medical masks. Ironically, he does not wear a mask whenever he meets his officials, and he only wore a mask when he made that threat.
Militarizing the response is probably his way of telling the public that he, as a strongman president, is doing something.
That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.
— Carole
Thank you
To Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.
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