Coronavirus updates: India becomes third country to pass 1 million cases

The U.K. government is due to announce an additional £3 billion ($3.8 billion) in health care funding, as it looks to bolster the country's National Health Service ahead of the winter months. 

Speaking ahead of a press conference by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his spokesman said: "The Prime Minister is clear that now is not the time for complacency, and we must make sure our NHS is battle ready for winter," according to Reuters. 

The money will be made available to the NHS immediately. It only applies to NHS England, but additional increases are also expected for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

In 2018-19, total funding for NHS England was around £115 billion.

The news comes just days after a group of scientists warned that the U.K. government must prepare for a potential new wave of Covid-19 infections. In a worst-case scenario, the experts said there could be 119,900 additional hospital deaths this winter, and there was a risk the NHS could become overwhelmed.

The U.K. has had almost 295,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and has reported over 45,200 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. — Katrina Bishop

Southeast Asia's markets have been among the worst performing in the broader Asia Pacific region so far this year, with many stock indexes still deep in negative territory. Analysts that spoke to CNBC said the countries' management of the coronavirus pandemic has played an important role.

As of Friday morning Singapore time, Thailand's SET Composite index, Singapore's Straits Times' Index, the Jakarta Composite index as well as the Philippines' PSI Composite Index were down more than 14% each for the year, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon.

That stands in sharp contrast to stocks in North Asia. For example, the CSI 300 index which tracks the largest stocks listed in mainland China, has risen more than 10% so far this year. — Eustance Huang

Banks in China are bracing for a jump in bad loans that will weigh down their margins and profits in the coming quarters, according to analysts. Smaller banks are likely to feel the pressure more, they said.

The pandemic has exacerbated the economic slowdown in China, which the International Monetary Fund has projected to grow by just 1% this year — down from 6.1% last year.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission warned over the weekend that some banks have not padded up their reserves sufficiently to cover for the loan losses that would come. It said that if banks set aside the minimum amount of provisions this year, the sector would lose more than more than 350 billion yuan ($50.08 billion) in profits. — Yen Nee Lee

The number of cumulative coronavirus cases in India exceeded 1 million after recording 34,956 new infections in the last day, reported Reuters. India is only the third country in the world to have crossed that mark after the U.S. and Brazil. 

The Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi implemented a strict nationwide lockdown in March and only started to ease restrictions starting last month. But the lockdown appeared to have done little to slow the outbreak, which has spread further into the countryside and smaller towns, according to Reuters. 

Epidemiologists told the news agency that a million cases are considered low for a country with a population of around 1.3 billion. As India expands its testing capacity, the number of infections will rise even more, they said, adding that the country is likely still months away from hitting the peak of its outbreak. — Yen Nee Lee

Dr. Anthony Fauci, that nation's leading infectious disease expert, urged young Americans to not take the coronavirus lightly.

"You have to have responsibility for yourself but also a societal responsibility that you're getting infected is not just you in a vacuum. You're propagating the pandemic," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an interview Thursday evening.

The comment came as state health officials say more young people are ignoring social distancing measures and contracting the virus at a higher rate. Fauci said the average age of a new Covid-19 patient has dropped by 15 years since the beginning of the pandemic in the U.S.

Fauci said young people at bars enjoying themselves is "totally understandable." But he warned that young people who are asymptomatic, who never develop symptoms, can also pass the virus on to others. — Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

Closing indoor bars and getting almost everyone to wear masks in public is "really as good as shutting it down" and will help stop the surging coronavirus outbreaks across the country, Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir said.

Federal officials are "concerned" about the surging outbreaks across the country, he said, driven particularly by four states: Texas, Florida, California and Arizona. 

"But the bottom line is, we know what to do to stop the current outbreak," he added. "Now we have very, very good models that in the hot areas, these red zones that have high cases, that have high percentages increasing, it's very, very important to really close indoor bars."

In the "hot zones," almost 90% of people should be wearing masks "when they're interacting with other people" to bring the spread under control, he said. —Will Feuer

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he was disappointed by the Trump administration's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Zuckerberg made his comments during a live-streamed chat with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert.

"It's really disappointing that we still don't have adequate testing, that the credibility of our top scientists like yourself and the CDC are being undermined and until recently parts of the administration were calling into question whether people should even follow basic best practices like wearing a mask," he said. —Salvador Rodriguez

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that it has extended the U.S. no-sail order for cruise ships through September 30, citing "ongoing" outbreaks on at least nine cruise ships.

The order was set to expire on July 24. Last month, the Cruise Line International Association, which represents the largest cruise lines in the world, announced that its members had agreed to suspend operations until Sept. 15. 

The CDC said it's been in touch with all three companies as well as the trade group and other cruise operators, including Disney, in assessing their plans to resume operations safely. The CDC said all proposals it initially received from cruise operators have been "incomplete" and "did not fully meet all the requirements" laid out in the health agency's April 15 no-sail extension order.

The CDC said it remains concerned about a number of elements of the companies' return-to-sailing plans, including failing to close self-serve buffets, gyms and salons. It added that it is aware and has been in touch with companies about allegations of non-compliance with the no-sail order. —Will Feuer

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, during a second scheduled call with reporters, slammed President Donald Trump's coronavirus response and said the "virus of American division and federal incompetence" is worse than Covid-19.

The Empire State governor pointed to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that he said proved one of his longstanding claims: The coronavirus came to New York, which was once the epicenter of the global outbreak, predominantly from Europe and not China.

"It was a terrible failing on behalf of the federal government, because this was their job," he said. "This country's public health system is monitored by the federal government, it's managed by the federal government. Their job is to monitor possible global pandemics." — Noah Higgins-Dunn 

A developing coronavirus aid bill in the Senate is expected to cost about $1.3 trillion, but even that huge chunk of federal spending would not go far enough to combat the crisis the pandemic has created in the U.S., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday. 

Congress aims to pass a relief bill before lawmakers head home for all of August. But the Democratic-held House and Republican-controlled Senate still have to resolve a range of issues, from how to support millions of Americans still out of work to the best way to educate students in the fall or keep renters and homeowners from losing housing. 

Lawmakers could easily miss one critical deadline: the $600 per week federal unemployment benefit passed in March expires at the end of the month. Failure to extend the relief in some form would pull a critical financial lifeline from millions of jobless Americans as the U.S. unemployment rate stands above 11%. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he aims to start rolling out a coronavirus aid plan next week.—Jacob Pramuk

Florida's Department of Economic Opportunity, which administers unemployment benefits for the state, is cutting nearly 1,000 customer-service jobs – about a quarter of the staff.

The department ended its contracts with two third-party firms, AECOM and UDT, which supplied hundreds of staffers to field phone calls from laid-off workers.

The move comes as applications for unemployment benefits rise in the state and delays persist in paying out aid.

Some fear the claw-back could worsen the situation in a state that some observers see as a poster child of poor administration.

About 900,000 people are collecting benefits in the Sunshine State, a figure that's more than doubled since early May. — Greg Iacurci

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatened to close New York City restaurants after "significant evidence" showed establishments violating the state's social distancing policies designed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Starting Thursday, the state will begin issuing violations to establishments, but egregious violators could face immediate closure and lose their liquor license. 

"Three violations and you're closed. We're also going to post the names of the establishments facing disciplinary charges," Cuomo said on a call with reporters. 

New York City is set to begin its phase four reopening Monday, which would allow malls and cultural institutions to reopen, but indoor operations will remain closed, Cuomo said. He said he's tightening the rules in New York as the state prepares for a "second wave" of coronavirus infections from states with surging outbreaks in the West and South. — Noah Higgins-Dunn 

After CNBC reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed data on the availability of hospital beds across the country from its website, the agency has republished some of the data through Tuesday, but said it will no longer provide updates.

"The following downloadable file contains national and state estimates from the NHSN COVID-19 Module," the CDC says on its site. "This file will not be updated after July 14, 2020 and includes data from April 1 to July 14."

The move comes after the Trump administration directed states to stop reporting the relevant data directly to the CDC, and to instead report it through a portal with the Department of Health and Human Services. In the future, HHS spokesman Michael Caputo said, HHS will provide "more powerful insights."

"Yes, HHS is committed to being transparent with the American public about the information it is collecting on the coronavirus," he said. "Therefore, HHS has directed CDC to re-establish the coronavirus dashboards it withdrew from the public on Wednesday." —Will Feuer

Amazon notified workers in at least two states, Michigan and Virginia, that they'd be screened for coronavirus symptoms when they show up to work, according to documents obtained by CNBC. 

Workers will "read signs listing potential Covid-19 symptoms" as they arrive at Amazon warehouses, the notice sent to workers states. If employees don't report any Covid-19 symptoms, they'll scan their badge, complete a temperature check and enter the building as normal.

If workers say they're experiencing symptoms of the virus, they 'll be asked to "return home out of caution and receive a Covid-19 test," according to one notice sent to Michigan workers. It's unclear if that measure will be taken at all facilities implementing the new screening measures. 

The added safety measure comes as Amazon continues to ramp up coronavirus testing sites at warehouses. The company has rolled out testing sites at nearly a dozen warehouses, according to notices sent out to workers. Workers test themselves with a nasal swab and receive their results within three to five days, Amazon told workers.— Annie Palmer

In a new letter addressed to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar that was obtained by CNBC, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders slammed the Trump administration for giving Gilead Sciences a "windfall" deal to secure most of the pharmaceutical company's supply of its coronavirus-fighting drug remdesivir to the United States.

The deal gives the U.S. more than 500,000 treatment courses of the antiviral drug for U.S. hospitals through September, the Department of Health and Human Services announced June 29. That represents 100% of Gilead's projected production for July and 90%. Gilead said it would sell remdesivir for $520 per vial in the U.S. to patients with private insurance and $390 per vial to federal insurance programs like Medicare as well as foreign countries.

The senators said the deal will give Gilead millions in revenue borne almost entirely by American taxpayers, "in whole or in part" through higher insurance premiums.  —Berkeley Lovelace Jr. 

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said shortages of coronavirus drug remdesivir being reported in Florida's hospitals are due to a "bad disconnect" with the Trump administration about his state's needs.

Rubio said on Twitter that he's heard reports as recently as "late last night" that "several hospitals" in Florida have "low or no supplies" of the drug.

Shipments of the drug to Florida are coordinated by the federal government, Rubio wrote on Twitter, and "we have a bad disconnect between what they think we need & what we really need."

Rubio TWEET

The shortages come as Florida grapples with record-breaking spike in coronavirus cases. On Sunday, Florida reported more than 15,000 new cases, marking the highest single-day total of any state in the country since the start of the pandemic.

Rubio first noted the reports of remdesivir shortages days before the Trump administration revealed it had ordered hospitals to start sending its data on coronavirus patients directly to the Department of Health and Human Services. That information had previously been posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency within the HHS that officials say used an outdated data collection system. – Kevin Breuninger, Will Feuer

Homebuilder sentiment has jumped 14 points back to its pre-coronavirus high at 72, exactly what it was in March. The index previously dropped to 30 in April as the economy took a hit from the virus, CNBC's Diana Olick reports.

Any score above 50 is considered positive.

"Builders are seeing strong traffic and lots of interest in new construction as existing home inventory remains lean," said NAHB Chairman Chuck Fowke, from Tampa, Florida. "Moreover, builders in the Northeast and the Midwest are benefiting from demand that was sidelined during lockdowns in the spring. Low interest rates are also fueling demand, and we expect housing to lead an overall economic recovery."

Mortgage rates are hitting new lows weekly, giving buyers more purchasing power. Under the index, current sales conditions jumped 16 points to 79 while sales expectations for the next six months climbed seven points to 75 and buyer traffic jumped 15 points to 58. –Suzanne Blake

Target has joined the list of retailers that require customers to wear masks or face coverings. The big-box retailer said the new policy starts Aug. 1.  

Walmart, the country's largest retailer, and Kroger, the largest U.S. supermarket operator, introduced the same policy change Wednesday. Their face-covering requirements take effect on July 20 and July 22, respectively. 

More than 80% of Target's stores already have local and state regulations that require face coverings, according to a Target spokesperson. The retailer plans to provide free disposable masks for customers who don't have them, add new signage and audio reminders, and station an employee near the entrance to remind shoppers.

Customers with underlying medical conditions and young children will be exempt from the policy, she said. —Melissa Repko

Republican National Convention organizers announced a severe cap to the number of people who can attend the event next month in Jacksonville, Florida, as the state reports large spikes in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases.

The number of people allowed to attend the event, slated for the week of Aug. 24, will now be slashed by thousands, according to a letter from Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. Portions of the event will also be held outside the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, the committee announced. Under normal circumstances, tens of thousands of people can be expected to attend a political convention like this one. 

The scale-back is just the latest shift to a convention that has seen drastic and unusual upheaval over the last few months, as the coronavirus forces the group to rethink its plans to account for measures to avoid spreading the disease. —Yelena Dzhanova

Hackers linked to Russian intelligence are trying to steal information about coronavirus vaccine research in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., security officials said.

Officials have pointed the finger at APT29, otherwise known as "Cozy Bear." The hacker group used spearphishing and custom malware to target vaccine researchers.

"It is completely unacceptable that the Russian Intelligence Services are targeting those working to combat the coronavirus pandemic," U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement. "While others pursue their selfish interests with reckless behavior, the U.K. and its allies are getting on with the hard work of finding a vaccine and protecting global health."

A Kremlin spokesperson has rejected the allegations, claiming they were not backed by proper evidence. —Ryan Browne