May 4 coronavirus news

Scientists working as part of the White House’s “Operation Warp Speed” to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus have identified 14 vaccines to focus on for development, an administration official told CNN’s Jim Acosta.

CNN’s Sara Murray reports "Operation Warp Speed" was a name chosen by the scientists working on all the challenges that surround vaccine deployment. They are already working on solutions to quickly ramp up production, organize distribution and determine who gets the first doses of the vaccine.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday night at a Fox News town hall, "We are very confident we are going to have a vaccine by the end of the year."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, told NBC on Thursday it’s possible there could be a vaccine by early next year.

From California to New York, more Americans are headed outside -- some for recreation and others in protest.

But as some states loosen or let go of their stay-at-home orders, researchers predict a higher death toll from coronavirus this summer than previously expected.

As of Sunday, more than 1.1 million people in the US have been infected with coronavirus, and more than 67,000 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

States such as California have stood firm on their stay-at-home orders -- and have been met with protests.

But more than 30 states have started easing some social distancing restrictions -- ranging from simply opening state parks to allowing certain businesses to restart.

Read more:

RELATED

America's weekend was marked by park days and protests over coronavirus restrictions

It may be some time before tourists are traveling the globe again. But what if you could travel through designated, approved parts of it?

Politicians from Australia and New Zealand are discussing the possibility of opening up borders to each other, creating a travel corridor -- or "travel bubble" -- between the two nations.

Both countries almost completely shut their borders to foreigners in March, a huge blow to their respective tourism industries. But with both appearing to have successfully brought their coronavirus outbreaks under control, politicians are now talking about when borders could be opened to each other.

It's not clear when this "bubble" could become a reality -- currently both countries still have domestic travel restrictions in place, and all international arrivals are subject to a 14-day quarantine.

Travel industry experts say August is when the corridor is likely to be rolled out, possibly in time for the ski season in New Zealand and the school holidays in September.

Read more:

RELATED

A 'travel bubble' between New Zealand and Australia could be a model for the future

By Julia Hollingsworth, CNN

China recorded 85 million domestic tourists during the first three days of the five-day May Day holiday, generating 35 billion yuan ($4.95 billion) in revenue, according to the country's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Last year, 195 million domestic tourists traveled during the entire holiday, generating 117.7 billion yuan ($16.67 billion) in revenue, according to previous data from the ministry.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the ministry has ordered tourist sites in the country to strictly control the flow of visitors, capping numbers at 30% of each site's capacity.

Some 70% of scenic spots rated "A class" in China's tiered grading system were open on the first day of the holiday, according to the ministry.

A total of 25,502 new coronavirus cases and 1,313 deaths were reported in the United States on Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

At least 1,158,041 cases and 67,682 fatalities have now been recorded in the US, according to JHU's tally.

As states begin to include “probable deaths” in their counts, so will JHU. In the upcoming days, these changes may show as surges of deaths in the US. 

The totals includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases and those in the US military, veterans hospitals and federal prisons. 

CNN is tracking US coronavirus cases here:

RELATED

Tracking Covid-19 cases in the US

Odd jobs on construction sites used to earn Takahashi enough money to pay for a private booth each night at one of Tokyo's internet cafes. But Japan's coronavirus lockdown not only cost him his work, it has temporarily closed the cafe that was his de facto home.

The 35-year-old has been sleeping rough at a Tokyo bus terminal for two weeks.

Takahashi is one of Tokyo's 4,000 "internet cafe refugees" -- homeless people, mostly men, who before the pandemic usually paid between $17 and $28 to stay overnight in a 20 square foot booth in one of the city's 24-hour internet cafes.

Over the past few weeks, Japan has scrambled to contain an uptick in coronavirus cases. As of Monday, Japan had recorded 15,769 cases nationwide and 523 deaths, according to the country's health ministry.

To stop the virus spreading, Japan called a nationwide state of emergency, which closed businesses including internet cafes, forcing their inhabitants to seek refuge elsewhere.

The Japanese authorities are providing emergency housing to support those living in internet cafes, but the pandemic measures have exposed a problem that goes back decades.

Read more:

RELATED

When your home is a Japanese internet cafe, but the coronavirus pandemic forces you out

Eight new cases of the novel coronavirus were recorded in South Korea on Sunday, all of which were imported, according to a news release from the country's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

No new locally transmitted infections were recorded, according to the KCDC, a sign that the country's local outbreak is under control as it prepares to relax strict social distancing rules later this week.

In total, 10,801 confirmed cases of the virus have been recorded in South Korea. Some 9,217 of those patients have recovered from the disease, with another 34 patients being discharged from isolation on Sunday.

Two more fatalities were reported on Sunday, bringing the country's death toll to 252.

Rules relaxed: South Korea will loosen its social distancing rules from Wednesday as the number of new coronavirus cases have remained low in the country, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on Sunday. The measures had been in effect since March 22. 

Another 218 cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Japan on Sunday, as the total number of infections recorded in the country reached 15,769.

According to Japan's health ministry, 18 people died on Sunday from the virus, bringing the country's death toll to 523.

The totals include 712 cases and 13 deaths linked to the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

Tokyo reported 91 new cases and four deaths. Japan's capital has now recorded a total of 4,568 cases and 145 fatalities.

Abe expected to extend state of emergency: Japan's Prime Minister will make an announcement today on the lockdown measures designed to slow the spread of the virus. According to Japan's public broadcaster NHK, Abe is likely to extend the state of emergency until May 31.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that the US coronavirus death toll could reach 80,000 to 90,000, a considerable upward shift from his previous estimates last month.

While praising the US response to the outbreak during a Fox News town hall, Trump said, "That's one of the reasons we're successful, if you call losing 80 or 90,000 people successful."

"But it's one of the reasons we're not at the high end of that plane as opposed to the low end of the plane," the President continued.

When pressed on his shifting estimate, Trump conceded, "I used to say 65,000 and now I'm saying 80 or 90 and it goes up and it goes up rapidly."

Read more:

RELATED

Trump again shifts estimated US coronavirus death toll