Coronavirus Live Updates: Beijing Braces For New Wave Of COVID-19 Cases

HuffPost reporters around the world are tracking the pandemic and its effects.

Read the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic below. (To see the latest updates, you may need to refresh the page. All times are Eastern. For earlier updates on the pandemic, go here.)

Beijing Braces For Resurgence Of Virus — 6/15/2020, 6 a.m. ET

More than 100 new cases of the coronavirus have been reported in recent days in Beijing, after about a month of no local transmission, the Associated Press reported.

The cases have been linked to the Xinfadi wholesale market, which supplies much of the meat and vegetables for the capital city. In response, Beijing has closed the market, put nearby neighborhoods on lockdown, and tested more than 76,000 people.

The resurgence in China, where the virus first appeared, underscores the difficulties countries around the world are having in containing the virus. More than 7.93 million cases have been reported worldwide, with more than 433,000 deaths attributable to the disease.

— Liza Hearon

Fauci: Ban On China, U.K. Travelers Likely To Last Months — 6/14/20, 3:25 p.m. ET

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert on the White House coronavirus task force, said he believes restrictions on travel from the United Kingdom, China and other countries to the United States will likely continue for “months.”

“It’s going to be really wait and see,” he told the British newspaper The Telegraph. “I don’t think there’s going to be an immediate pullback for those kinds of restrictions. My feeling, looking at what’s going on with the infection rate, I think it’s more likely measured in months rather than weeks.”

President Donald Trump restricted travel from China in later January, about a month after the first documented coronavirus case in the Chinese city of Wuhan. He followed up in mid-March with a ban on travel from the U.K., Ireland and 26 other countries in Europe. His delayed decision to shut down travel from Europe prompted criticism from many public health experts.

The virus could “go on for a couple of cycles, coming back and forth,” Fauci told The Telegraph. But a so-called second wave isn’t inevitable if local and state officials take the proper precautions, he said.

There have been more than 2 million confirmed cases of the virus in the U.S., according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. At least 115,000 people have died nationwide.

—Hayley Miller

Health Expert Calls Trump’s Tulsa Rally An ‘Extraordinarily Dangerous Move’ — 6/14/20, 3:05 p.m. ET

As President Donald Trump prepares for his first campaign rally in months, health experts are warning the event could lead to a new outbreak of the coronavirus.

The upcoming rally, which is slated to be held in a 19,000-seat arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma, could prove to be “an extraordinarily dangerous move for the people participating and the people who may know them and love them and see them afterward,” Dr. Ashish Jha, director of Harvard’s Global Health Institute, told the Associated Press.

Trump’s reelection campaign, in a recognition of the risk, has included a notice to those registering to attend the rally that essentially says you can’t sue the campaign if you contract the coronavirus during event.

“By attending the Rally, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; BOK Center; ASM Global; or any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers liable for any illness or injury,” the waiver states.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, an infectious disease expert on the White House coronavirus task force, cautioned Friday that attending rallies or protests at this time is “risky” and poses “a danger.”

He urged rallygoers to wear masks and socially distance as much as possible.

Read more from the Associated Press here.

― Hayley Miller

Oregon Governor To Halt Reopening As New Cases Rise — 6/12/20, 9:46 a.m. ET

Oregon will “press pause” on and reevaluate its reopening process for the next seven days “to ensure that the virus is not spreading too quickly,” Gov. Kate Brown announced Thursday night.

On Thursday, the state reported a new single-day high in the number of new COVID-19 infections. It’s one of at least a dozen states that have seen a rise in cases, which many experts attribute to loosening restrictions.

— Marina Fang

For more on the pandemic, go here.