Coronavirus pandemic: Updates from around the world

Our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic has ended for the day.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday that he is planning to accelerate the reopening of temples, mosques and churches.

Houses of worship across the state will be allowed to open with up to 25% occupancy in phase two, as long as all social distancing measures are taken.  

At his daily news briefing, Cuomo said "we are doing so well on the metrics" but encouraged people to "stay smart."

The latest numbers: Cuomo said the state saw the lowest daily death rate since it started trending downward –– with at least 35 new coronavirus deaths. About 26 of those who died were in hospitals and nine were in nursing homes, Cuomo said.

Currently, western New York and the capital region are in phase two. New York City remains on track to enter phase one of reopening on Monday.

Personal protective equipment: Cuomo announced he is signing an executive order to ban price gouging of personal protective equipment (PPE).

He said the bill is to "ensure access to supplies like masks for healthcare workers and the general public." It will remain in effect until the end of the Covid-19 crisis, he said.

Temperature checks: Cuomo also said he is signing another executive order allowing commercial buildings to conduct temperature checks on employees before they enter.

He reminded everyone that reopening doesn't mean going back to the way things were before, but instead, going back to a safe, new normal.

The World Health Organization reversed course on face masks yesterday. It’s now encouraging people to wear them to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

The general public should use fabric masks in high-spread areas, the WHO said, or whenever social distancing is impossible. The global health agency also said that all health workers, not just those caring for Covid-19 patients, should wear masks in clinical areas.

In an effort to make more masks available for health workers, the WHO had previously advised the public to avoid wearing them if they were not sick or caring for someone who is ill. The policy shift is another reminder of the constantly evolving challenges faced in the fight against the virus.

Hydroxychloroquine provides another example. Initial studies suggested the malaria drug may help Covid-19 patients recover faster. But subsequent trials have disproved that research, with one study suggesting the drug might be harmful, prompting the WHO to suspend its trials.

While that study has since been retracted, and the WHO is now saying it’s safe to resume trials, the United Kingdom abruptly ended its trial yesterday. Its researchers found the drug doesn’t work against Covid-19.

In the rush to find a vaccine, mishaps are to be expected. But scientists warn there is little room for error if one is to be developed by January. “Everything will have to go incredibly perfectly if that's going to happen,” said Dr. Larry Corey, a virology and vaccine development expert.

Peruvians cry out for oxygen: People collapse on the street. Others drag desperately ill relatives to hospitals that won't admit them. Distraught children ask why their parents were left to die. The coronavirus outbreak in Peru is spiraling out of control and experts fear it will only worsen.

Oxygen tanks, an important weapon against the virus, are in short supply, and they have come to symbolize the chaos in Peru. Desperate citizens have turned to a burgeoning black market, with tanks listed for sale at exorbitant prices on social media and e-commerce sites, as Jack Guy and Claudia Rebaza report.

Cases rise faster than ever: The infection rate has slowed in most countries hit hard early on in the pandemic, including China, the US, UK, Italy, Spain and France. But global numbers show it’s far from over. 

In many countries, particularly in South America, the Middle East and Africa, transmission rates are accelerating, according to a CNN analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.

Globally, confirmed cases are now rising at a rate of more than 100,000 a dayover a seven-day period. In April new cases never topped 100,000 in one day. But confirmed daily cases have topped that number in nine of the past 10 days, reaching 130,400 cases on Wednesday.

Bolsonaro echoes Trump: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has threatened to leave the WHO for what he calls “ideological” bias, citing US President Donald Trump’s recent announcement that America will sever its relationship with the health agency. 

“We don't need foreign people having a say in our health here,” Bolsonaro said yesterday. 

Brazil has recorded 1,005 new coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, raising the country’s death toll to 35,026. Brazil has recorded more than 600,000 cases, second only to the US.

A version of this story first appeared in CNN's Coronavirus: Fact Vs. Fiction newsletter. Sign up here.

Public shaming, in this era of rapid judgement and ensuing internet outrage, is nothing new. But the pandemic has made it a popular pastime.

Runners have been berated for exercising without masks. City dwellers have been criticized for congregating in parks. And beachgoers have been condemned for hitting the sand.

The pandemic has heightened the stakes for every small decision we make about our lives, and people are naturally on edge. But experts say shaming other individuals for apparently going against the rules -- or, public shaming for what you may perceive as the public good -- isn't usually the best route to take.

Here's why we shame others -- and why we shouldn't.

It's often a natural response: Shaming or scolding others for not abiding by the rules is a natural response, says June Tangney, a clinical psychologist and professor at George Mason University.

We may feel like we're missing out: The impulse to shame someone else might also be driven by FOMO, or the fear of missing out, Tangney said.

But it can have the opposite effect: Scolding someone for not following the rules is usually done with the intention of changing that person's behavior. But it typically has the opposite effect: people don't like being told what to do.

It drives the behavior underground: Shaming doesn't mean that people won't engage in risky behaviors. Rather, it drives the behaviors underground, says Julia Marcus, an infectious disease epidemiologist and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.

Read more here.

Brazil is edging closer to overtaking the United Kingdom as the country with the second-most coronavirus deaths in the world, after announcing another vast daily fatality toll on Friday.

Another 1,005 deaths were confirmed by the health ministry in the past 24 hours, taking the country's overall death toll above 35,000.

The ministry also registered 30,830 new coronavirus cases in the past day, bringing the nationwide total to 645,771 cases.

The virus is surging in the country, even as its President Jair Bolsonaro pushes to re-open parts of the country. The populist leader has frequently dismissed the severity of the disease.

On Thursday, Brazil surpassed Italy’s total Covid-19 death toll and became the country with the third-highest death toll worldwide, behind the United Kingdom and the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University data. 

More than 40,000 deaths have been recorded in the UK, but the country is far further along in its outbreak than Brazil.

China issued a new warning to its citizens against travel to Australia Friday citing racial discrimination against Chinese and Asian people.

The statement from the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism reads: “Recently, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, racial discrimination and acts of violence against Chinese and Asians in Australia have increased significantly. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism reminds Chinese tourists to raise their safety awareness and not to travel to Australia.”

Australia’s public broadcaster ABC said the country’s Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham rejected the warning.

ABC quoted Birmingham as saying "Australia is the most successful multicultural and migrant society in the world. The Chinese Australian community is a significant and valued contributor to that success story."

Film and television productions in California will soon be able to send their people back to work, several months after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered operations across the country and internationally. 

The new guidance from the California Department of Public Health states that TV, film and music productions in the state can resume on June 12, "subject to approval by county public health officers within the jurisdictions of operations." 

The long-awaited green light came on Friday in an update that also provided updated guidance for schools, day camps and professional sports. 

"To reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission, productions, cast, crew and other industry workers should abide by safety protocols agreed by labor and management, which may be further enhanced by county public health officers," the guidance from the state read. "Back office staff and management should adhere to Office Workspace guidelines published by the California Department of Public Health and the California Department of Industrial Relations, to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission." 

Those guidelines are generic advice for office workspaces but contain no production-specific information. 

CNN has reached out to SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents approximately 160,000 actors and performers, for comment. 

This week, the entertainment industry's guilds and unions submitted to public health officials in New York and California a 22-page guideline document designed to establish safety protocols for producing movies and TV in the age of coronavirus.

The measures relied heavily on extensive testing, temperature checks, cleaning measures and physical distancing when possible. 

The federal government's "Operation Warp Speed" vaccine program, with its emphasis on quick production and testing of experimental coronavirus vaccines, is fueling fears already stirred up by vaccine skeptics, two experts said Friday.

The approach itself is not unreasonable, said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and professor of pediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine. But the way it's being communicated is scaring people, he told CNN.

"The way the message is coming out of Operation Warp Speed creates a lot of chaos and confusion. And it is enabling the anti-vaccine movement," Hotez said.

A White House coronavirus task force source told CNN earlier this week that the Trump Administration's Warp Speed program had chosen five companies most likely to produce a Covid-19 vaccine — whittled down from 14 last month when "Operation Warp Speed" was launched.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says he expects up to 100,000 doses of one vaccine, made by biotech company Moderna, to be available by the end of the year, ready to be rolled out if it is shown to work safely to protect people against coronavirus infection in clinical trials that are now underway.

He has said one of the candidates could be ready as early as January. That is a highly accelerated schedule, as vaccines typically take years to produce.

"We think we are going to have a vaccine in the pretty near future, and if we do, we are going to really be a big step ahead," Trump said last month.