Coronavirus: Australia closes interstate border; California asks indoor businesses to close

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been tested for the coronavirus, shortly after the presidential palace confirmed to NBC News that he had been feeling unwell and was running a high temperature. 

An affiliate to CNN in Brazil had reported that the right-wing leader tested positive for the virus, but this has not been verified by CNBC or officially confirmed.

The results of Bolsonaro's test for Covid-19 are expected at around 11 a.m. ET. —Sam Meredith

The European Commission has cut its 2020 and 2021 economic expectations for the European Union as the coronavirus pandemic is still limiting the pace of the recovery.

The EU's executive arm expects the 27-member region to contract by 8.3% this year, followed by a rebound of 5.8% in 2021. By comparison, in May, the Commission estimated a 7.4% contraction for total GDP across the region this year, with a rebound of 6.1% in 2021.

The economic outlook has deteriorated over the last two months even though many countries have taken steps to reopen their economies. — Silvia Amaro

After a record spike in coronavirus cases, Australia's second most populous state Victoria is set to reinstate stay-home restrictions for six weeks, according to Reuters.

Its premier, Daniel Andrews, said those restrictions will be imposed in metropolitan Melbourne and one regional area of the state, effective Wednesday night, the report said.

"These are unsustainably high numbers of new cases," Andrews said in a media briefing in Melbourne, according to Reuters. Victoria reported 191 new cases overnight, the largest spike since the pandemic began. — Weizhen Tan

Australian officials rushed to put in place a travel permit system ahead of a border closure between its two most populous states of New South Wales and Victoria, according to Reuters.

The border — which has 55 roads that are used daily by commuters, students and road freight — will be closed for the first time in 100 years. It comes amid a spike in coronavirus cases in Melbourne, the report said.

Officials were scrambling to issue daily permits for residents on both sides of the border to cross, but said delays were likely, according to Reuters. The closure will probably hit businesses hard, causing logistical problems, the report said. — Weizhen Tan

Many restaurants may struggle to survive if government mandates during the coronavirus pandemic result in their constant opening and closure, Junior's Cheesecake owner Alan Rosen warned Monday on CNBC. 

"This opening and closing could be the death knell of restaurants in this country. When people are buying up food, then you throw out $100,000 worth of food, it's the end of you," Rosen said on "Power Lunch." 

Rosen, whose family owned business has three restaurants in New York City and another in Connecticut, said he has been cautious in using the Paycheck Protection Program funds that the company received. Only its location in Brooklyn is so far open and is limited to serving takeout, Rosen said. 

"You have to be really slow and really take your time," Rosen said of reopening restaurants. "I got to be honest, the PPP, if used properly, will save the industry." —Kevin Stankiewicz

California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked six additional counties to close their indoor businesses, including restaurants, movie theaters and museums, among others, as coronavirus hospitalizations and cases continue to grow across the state.

There are now 23 counties on the state's "watchlist," including some of California's most populated areas like Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernadino counties. San Diego county was one of the six counties added to the list Monday. 

"More broadly, activities that are indoors we want to move them outdoors, and we've done that in multiple sectors in our economy," Newsom said at a press briefing. 

The percent of total tests returning positive has grown from 4.9% to 6.8% over the last two weeks, Newsom said. There were 5,790 people hospitalized with Covid-19 as of Sunday, an increase of 50% in two weeks. — Noah Higgins-Dunn

White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said that the average age of new coronavirus patients has dropped by roughly 15 years compared with only a few months ago as the coronavirus reignites in America's Sun Belt. 

"The average age of people getting infected now is a decade and a half younger than it was a few months ago particularly when New York and New Orleans and Chicago were getting hit very badly," he said. 

Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a Q&A discussion with Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, that the resurgence of cases in the U.S. is an extension of the outbreak first reported earlier this year, not a second wave. 

While young people are less likely to develop serious illnesses from Covid-19, Fauci warned that the virus could still "put them out of action for weeks at a time." They should also remember that when they're infected, there's the likelihood that they could spread the disease to people who are at high risk of serious illness, Fauci said. — Noah Higgins-Dunn

Retail was beginning to bounce back from its lows. But consumers are once again retreating from bricks-and-mortar stores, according to new data from ShopperTrak. Traffic at retail stores in the U.S. was down the most, on a year-over-year basis, during the week ended April 18, according to data from the retail consultancy ShopperTrak, falling 82.6%. Up until two weeks ago, there were slight improvements those and declines were lightening. But over the last 14 days, with coronavirus hot spots emerging in states including Florida and Texas, traffic declines have accelerated once again, ShopperTrak found. "It's all about consumers feeling confident," ShopperTrak senior director Brian Field said in a phone interview. 

— Lauren Thomas

Fewer than 50% of Nevada businesses observed by state investigators on July 2 complied with Gov. Steve Sisolak's face mask order, CNBC's Contessa Brewer reports. Sisolak promised "swift and decisive action" against industries that were found in violation of the order.

Casino owners told CNBC rumors of casinos closing again are baseless and they will not close voluntarily, but they are taking the governor's notice seriously.

MGM sent a memo to workers reminding them of social distancing and face mask requirements and asked employees to report any non-compliance from co-workers. Caesars CEO Tony Rodio said failure to wear a face mask at work could result in termination. —Alex Harring

Harvard University is welcoming freshmen and some other students back to campus this fall semester, but students will have to take coronavirus tests every three days, classes will still be taught online and it won't discount its $49,653 tuition, the school announced Monday. 

The total percentage of on-campus undergraduates will be limited to around 40%.

Princeton University also announced Monday it would bring freshmen and juniors to campus in the fall and sophomores and seniors in the spring, with Covid-19 testing upon arrival and "regularly thereafter." —Michelle Gao

Gyms and restaurants – except for take-out and delivery – are among businesses that will reclose in Miami-Dade County beginning Wednesday amid a spike in Covid-19 cases, Mayor Carlos Gimenez announced Monday.

In addition to restaurants and gyms, ballrooms, banquet facilities, party venues and short-term rentals will also close.

Beaches will remain open Tuesday, but Gimenez warned they could close if there is crowding and public health rules are not followed. Hotel and condominium pools, summer camps and other outdoor activities will remain open with capacity limits and requirements for social distancing and face coverings.

Office buildings, retail and grooming will remain open, according to the press release. –Alex Harring

Certain workers, like the self-employed and gig workers, are getting an increasing share of unemployment benefits.

Nearly 13 million Americans were receiving jobless aid through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program as of mid-June, according to most recent Labor Department data.

That represents about 41% of overall unemployment recipients nationwide — up from a little over a third of the total a month earlier.

The PUA program, created by a federal coronavirus relief law in March, expanded benefits to these workers, who are ineligible for unemployment aid in normal times. — Greg Iacurci

While the U.S. has managed to ramp up testing significantly on a national level, states with surging outbreaks still aren't testing enough people, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said.

"We don't have a national plan. We don't have a national strategy. We don't have a national pool of resources and swing capacity that we can move around when we have these epidemics, and so states start to get pressed very quickly," Gottlieb said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "It's a bigger problem than we thought it would be at this point."

The testing capacity in states like Texas and Arizona is reportedly strained under the spike in demand that's come as parts of those states experience severe outbreaks. The supply chain for diagnostic tests, which includes sample-collection swabs, chemical reagents and other materials, has been strained since the start of the pandemic. LabCorp and Quest, two of the largest test manufacturers in the world, have said they are experiencing a recent backlog of processing tests amid the recent spike in demand. —Will Feuer

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a press briefing that President Donald Trump is "enabling the virus" and exacerbating the pandemic by downplaying the problem and telling Americans they don't have to wear a mask. Cuomo said Trump "says a lot of things" and "they're not necessarily facts, they're not necessarily true." 

He said Trump could help curb the outbreak in the U.S., the worst in the world, by simply acknowledging the problem and by wearing a mask in public. Cuomo ridiculed Trump's claim that if the U.S. didn't conduct more tests then it wouldn't find additional cases. Last month at a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Trump attributed the growing outbreaks across the country to increased testing, adding that he told officials to "slow the testing down, please."

"We're not the United States of denial. We have never been a nation that's excelled because we refuse to admit the problem," Cuomo said. — Noah Higgins-Dunn

The number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 grew by 5% or more Sunday in 23 states, based on a seven-day moving average, according to data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project, an independent volunteer organization launched by journalists at The Atlantic.

Texas had more than 8,000 people hospitalized with the coronavirus on Sunday, a record high for the state since the beginning of the outbreak. 

Public health experts watch hospitalizations closely because it can indicate how severe an outbreak is in an area. California, Arizona, Nevada and Georgia have also seen growing Covid-19 hospitalizations. Florida only tracks the number of people who have been hospitalized since the beginning of the outbreak and not those currently in the hospital with Covid-19, according to the Covid Tracking Project.  — Noah Higgins-Dunn

Immunity to the coronavirus is "rather fragile" and "short lived," Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, told CNBC. 

Altmann also said so-called herd immunity was "probably never going to work" in dealing with Covid-19. This strategy allows a population some exposure to the virus in order to build immunity among the general population, and has been implemented in Sweden, one of the only European countries which did not impose a lockdown. 

"Immunity to this thing looks rather fragile — it looks like some people might have antibodies for a few months and then it might wane, so it's not looking like a safe bet," the professor added. "It's a very deceitful virus and immunity to it is very confusing and rather short-lived." — Katrina Bishop

Wearing masks and social distancing, not new business closures, are the best ways to fight rising coronavirus infections, Rep. Kevin Brady told CNBC.

"The deadliest per-capita rates are in the 'lockdown states,' New Jersey, New York," among others, the Texas Republican said. He added that "reopening states," including his home state and Florida, have "some of the lowest Covid fatalities per person."

Texas and Florida are among the states currently experiencing record daily Covid-19 cases. Since they didn't see huge early spikes like in the Northeast, possible fatalities in those states could go higher.

Texas and Florida were among the first states to allow some businesses to resume operations in early May. However, as cases started to spike last month, the Republican governors of Texas and Florida also became some of the first to slow or reverse reopeni