Health and Science

Spain daily death toll slow to decline; Tui travel firm plans up to 8,000 job cuts

Key Points
  • Brazil had a total of 177,602 cases, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. Brazil also recorded its deadliest day ever with 881 confirmed fatalities in the past 24 hours.
  • Russia also saw a spike as cases rose to 232,243, making the country the second worst hit, according to Hopkins data. Globally, infections topped 4.2 million.

In this article

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  • Global cases: More than 4.2 million
  • Global deaths: At least 291,366
  • Most cases reported: United States (1,369,314), Russia (232,243), Spain (228,030), United Kingdom (227,741), Italy (221,216) 

The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University as of 8:45 a.m. Beijing time. 

All times below are in Beijing time.

6:30 pm: Spain reportedly plans keeping borders closed until July

Spain is planning to keep borders closed to most travelers from abroad until July, two foreign ministry sources said on Wednesday, Reuters reported, in a bid to prevent a second wave of coronavirus infections.

Land borders with France and Portugal have been closed since a state of emergency was declared in mid-March and the country also imposed a two-week quarantine for foreign travelers. — Holly Ellyatt

6:00 pm: World's largest shipping company idled almost 10% of its fleet as coronavirus spread

Shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Wednesday it had idled 9.4% of its total fleet capacity by the end of March, citing a decline in first-quarter container demand amid the coronavirus crisis.

To put that into context, that's the firm's highest level of idled fleet capacity in more than 10 years.  Shares of the A.P. Moller-Maersk slipped almost 6% during European trading hours. — Sam Meredith

5:55 pm: Spain reports 184 deaths on Wednesday

Spain has reported a further 184 deaths, taking its total number of coronavirus fatalities to 27,104. The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases has reached 228,691, the health ministry said. The number of deaths reported on Wednesday is higher than the 176 deaths reported the day before.

That gives Spain the third largest number of cases in the world, after the U.S. and Russia, but it's followed closely by the U.K. — Holly Ellyatt

5:30 pm: Travel firm Tui to cut up to 8,000 jobs

Travel firm Tui announced on Wednesday that it will cut up to 8,000 jobs globally as it looks to reduce costs amid the coronavirus crisis.

Describing the pandemic as "the greatest crisis the tourism industry and Tui has ever faced," the company said it wanted to permanently reduce its overhead costs by 30%.

As well as withdrawing its full-year guidance for 2020, citing uncertainty due to the coronavirus outbreak, the firm confirmed it had been granted a loan of 1.8 billion euros ($1.95 billion) from the German government to help see it through the crisis. — Chloe Taylor

5:15 pm: Hong Kong reports first locally transmitted coronavirus cases in weeks

Hong Kong reported its first two coronavirus cases in three weeks that were locally transmitted and not linked to anyone who traveled overseas, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Hong Kong has been seen as a poster child for containing the pandemic, with most cases imported and quarantined immediately, and the discovery of new cases raises worries of renewed local transmission.

The latest government health report brings the total number of cases in the city to 1,051, four of whom have died. — Holly Ellyatt

Alvaro Calvo

4:50 pm: Australia says China has not responded to a request for talks as tensions rise

China has not responded to a request for urgent talks after Australia's key agriculture exports were hit with trade suspensions and tariff threats, Australia's trade minister said Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Relations between China and Australia have become strained after Canberra called for an independent inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic in order to help prevent future pandemics. China said the call was tantamount to anti-China propaganda.

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said on Wednesday he had not received a reply after requesting a call with Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan, Reuters said. "The ball is very much in the court of the Chinese government," Birmingham told ABC television. "We have made it very clear that I am available and keen to have a discussion." — Holly Ellyatt

4:25 pm: Philippines records 21 new coronavirus deaths and 268 more infections

The Philippines reported 21 more coronavirus fatalities and 268 additional infections, the country's health ministry said Wednesday.

The total death toll from the virus now stands at 772. The number of confirmed cases now stands at 11,618. — Holly Ellyatt

3:50 pm: US says it won't use Russian ventilators while hospital fires are investigated

The U.S. has said it won't use Russian ventilators that Moscow sent it in early April while an investigation looks at whether they were the cause of a deadly hospital fire in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) told CNBC Wednesday that it would not start using the "Aventa-M" ventilators after they were cited as a possible reason a fire started at the St. George Hospital in St. Petersburg that killed five patients with Covid-19.

The St. Petersburg hospital fire follows a similar incident last Saturday at a Moscow hospital which was also using the same model of ventilator; that fire killed one and forced hundreds of others to evacuate.

Russia has now suspended the use of Aventa-M ventilators throughout the country, Russia's health-care regulator Roszdravnadzor confirmed Wednesday. It said Aventa-M ventilators were used to provide medical care to patients at both the Moscow and St. Petersburg hospitals. — Holly Ellyatt

3:14 pm: Singapore reports 675 new cases

Singapore's health ministry preliminarily confirmed 675 new cases of infection in the city-state. 

Most of the cases reported in Singapore are linked to infection clusters in dormitories that house foreign workers. The people living in those purpose-built, or factory-converted, dormitories are typically men from other Asian countries who carry out labor-intensive construction jobs in order to support their families back home. 

With Wednesday's preliminary figure, Singapore now has more than 25,000 cumulative infection cases. — Saheli Roy Choudhury

3:03 pm: UK economy contracts, but decline is less severe than expected

The U.K. economy contracted by 5.8% on-month in March, representing the largest ever monthly fall, according to preliminary figures that were released on Wednesday. 

The initial March reading still came in better than the 7.2% drop that analysts were predicting. 

Nationwide lockdown measures were announced in late March as part of the U.K. government's efforts to stop the spread of the virus. Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week unveiled a plan for gradual easing of restrictions over the coming months. — Elliot Smith

2:26 pm: Alameda County health department says it recommended additional safety measures to Tesla

The health department at California's Alameda County said it received a prevention and control plan from Tesla for restarting its factory in Fremont, a key requirement for resuming production beyond minimum basic operations.

"We reviewed the plan and held productive discussions today with Tesla's representatives about their safety and prevention plans, including some additional safety recommendations," the health department said in a statement.

"If Tesla's Prevention and Control Plan includes these updates, and the public health indicators remain stable or improve, we have agreed that Tesla can begin to augment their Minimum Business Operations this week in preparation for possible reopening as soon as next week," it added. 

Tesla employees returned to work at the car plant this week, which was reopened despite local health orders. 

In its statement, the health department said it will work with the Fremont Police Department to verify Tesla adheres to the health and safety measures agreed upon. — Saheli Roy Choudhury

1:22 pm: Philippines' economic decline set to be deeper than forecast

The Philippines is predicted to experience its first contraction in more than two decades and the slowdown this year could be greater than what was expected earlier, Reuters reported.

Gross domestic product is predicted to decline 2% to 3.4% in 2020, worse than the government's forecast in March of -1% to 0% growth, the news agency said, citing the Development Budget Coordination Committee. The budget deficit is expected to reach 1.56 trillion pesos ($31.04 billion), or 8.1% of GDP, again surpassing the government's earlier forecast of 5.3%. 

The government said Tuesday that capital city Manila will remain under lockdown until the end of May and economists have said the restrictions are taking a toll on domestic demand, according to Reuters. Measures in some low-risk areas are being eased, it added. 

There are more than 11,000 cases in the country and at least 751 people have died. — Audrey Cher, Saheli Roy Choudhury

11:45 am: Germany reports 798 new cases

Germany's total cases jumped by 798 to 171,306, according to the latest data by Robert Koch Institute, a federal government agency responsible for disease monitoring and prevention. 

The country's death toll increased by 101 to 7,634, the data showed. — Weizhen Tan

10:40 am: Cases in South Korea continue to rise as country tracks new night club cluster

People wearing protective face masks walk through the street at night in the Itaewon area of Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday, May 9, 2020.
SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images

South Korea reported 26 new cases and one new death, as it continued to track a new cluster linked to night clubs.

At least 102 people linked to that cluster have tested positive, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. These cases have spurred fears of a second wave after South Korea began to ease restrictions intended to contain the coronavirus.

Authorities have tracked and tested more than 7,000 people, including family members and co-workers of those who had gone to those night clubs and bars in the Itaewon neighborhood of capital city Seoul.

The country now has a total of 10,962 cases and 259 deaths, according to the KCDC. — Weizhen Tan

9:55 am: The US could spiral into a depression if it doesn't reopen, Jim Cramer warns

CNBC's Jim Cramer argued that without more aggressive action from the federal government, the U.S. may have "no choice" but to reopen.

Jim Cramer: We may have no choice but to reopen as the economy spirals into a depression.
VIDEO3:1803:18
Jim Cramer: We may have no choice but to reopen the economy to stop a depression

"Ideally, we'd keep everything closed until the federal government massively ramps up its testing and contact tracing capacity," Cramer said, but "without more aggressive action from the federal government, we may have no choice but to reopen as the economy spirals into a depression."

"Almost everybody else in the industry is shut and it's crushing the economy," the "Mad Money" host said. "I'd be okay with that if our leaders had a plan" but it "increasingly feels like that's not an option" for the country. — Tyler Clifford

9:30 am: Mexico records new daily high number of deaths

Mexico reported 353 more deaths, a new daily record, bringing its total to 3,926 fatalities, according to Reuters citing the health ministry.

The country had 1,997 new confirmed cases on Tuesday, bringing the total to 38,324, the report said. — Weizhen Tan

8:45 am: China reports 7 new cases

China's National Health Commission (NHC) reported seven new cases, of which 6 were locally transmitted infections and one was imported, or attributed to a traveler from overseas. That brings the country's total to 82,926 cases, according to the NHC.

There were no new deaths, the NHC said, with the total number of fatalities staying at 4,633. It also said there were eight new asymptomatic cases, where patients do not display symptoms of the disease. In all, 750 asymptomatic cases were under medical observation. — Weizhen Tan

8:30 am: Facebook warns that coronavirus is hampering its ability to moderate content

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Covid-19 has impacted the social network's ability to have humans review as many content moderation appeals as it previously could.

In mid-March, the social network decided to send its content moderator contractors home for the sake of their safety. This decision reduced the number of human moderators available to review content. As a result, the company could only review 2.3 million content appeals between January and March, down nearly 26% compared to last year.

Facebook is in the process of bringing its content moderator contractors back online. — Salvador Rodriguez

8:20 am: Cases in Brazil and Russia spike; global infections top 4.2 million

Health professionals hold balloons before releasing them as they honour health workers who have died of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, outside Sao Paulo University Hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on May 12, 2020.
NELSON ALMEIDA/AFP/ Getty Images

Confirmed cases in Brazil surpassed Germany's on Tuesday. The South American country now has the seventh highest number of infections, with 177,602 cases reported, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

Brazil also recorded its deadliest day ever with 881 confirmed fatalities in the past 24 hours, bringing its total death toll to 12,400 deaths, according to Reuters.

Russia also saw a spike as cases rose to 232,243, making the country the second worst hit, according to Hopkins data. Globally, infections topped 4.2 million.  — Weizhen Tan

Read CNBC's coverage from the U.S. overnight: Fauci delivers somber warnings, California sets new rules for reopening restaurants