More than 8.3 million people around the world had been sickened by COVID-19 as of 11 PM eastern time yesterday, and nearly 449,000 people had died.
Here is every country with over 100,000 confirmed cases:
India reported 12,281 new cases of COVID-19 today, its highest single-day number, bringing the country’s total to 366,946 cases. Despite that, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the country will not put in place a new nationwide lockdown. Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populated country (behind China, India and the U.S.) also reported its highest one-day increase in cases earlier today, announcing 1,331 new cases.
As China deals with a resurgence of cases, officials are finding contamination in a worrisome place: the meat and seafood sections of the Xinfadi food center, Beijing’s largest wholesale food market.
Hong Kong Disneyland reopened after five months of closure, becoming the second Disney theme park to reopen, following Shanghai Disneyland, on May 11. Disney still plans to open its parks in California and Florida next month, even though COVID-19 cases are rising in both states.
In another blow for the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, the drug will no longer be part of the World Health Organization’s Solidarity Trial, an effort to find a COVID-19 treatment, after data from the trial and a separate study out of the U.K. showed that the drug doesn’t result in a lower mortality rate among hospitalized coronavirus research, the organization announced yesterday. The WHO said that it was concerned about reports of people harming themselves after self-medicating with chloroquine.
The Situation in the U.S.
More than 2.1 million people in the U.S. had been infected with COVID-19 as of 11 PM eastern time yesterday, and more than 117,000 had died.
On June 17, there were 25,559 new cases and 754 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Jobless claims in the U.S. went down slightly in the last week, from more than 1.57 million to 1.51 million. That's the 11th-straight weekly decline in claims, but the drop was smaller than in recent weeks: just 58,000, compared to, for example, last week’s decrease 355,000.
In New York City, as many as 300,000 workers will be able to go back to work when Phase 2 of the city’s reopening plan starts Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed earlier today. Restaurants will be allowed to welcome outdoor diners, and some in-store shopping and office work will restart. De Blasio said restaurants will be able to serve customers on sidewalks starting Friday, saying that the city has “to help the restaurants come back.”
Arizona and Texas state leaders softened their stances about face masks as coronavirus cases spike in their states. Governor Doug Ducey said that mayors of Arizona cities can require their residents to wear face masks after saying just last week that he wanted to avoid a mishmash of rules across the state. Texas Governor Greg Abbott also said local governments can mandate that businesses require workers and customers wear face masks after the populous Bexar County issued such a rule. Both Republican governors have resisted calls to issue state-wide mask requirements.
Many Americans are aching for a vacation amidst all the COVID-19 restrictions, but some people might be finding a risky (and illegal) solution: sneaking into Canada. Canadian officials are reportedly looking into information that Americans are violating a border closure aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 by pretending to be driving to Alaska and instead staying in Canada.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of June 17, 11 PM eastern time. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
More Americans Support Expanding the Social Safety Net
The COVID-19 crisis has exposed many inequalities in the U.S., claiming a disproportionate number of Black lives and causing growing hunger among children. That’s led more Americans to support an expanded social safety net, including measures like Universal Basic Income, write Stanford researchers Catherine Thomas, David Kalkstein and Gregory Walton for TIME. Read more here.
Most States Need More Contact Tracers
The national workforce of contract tracers has tripled over the past six weeks, an NPR survey of state health departments found. But only seven states and Washington, D.C. met the number of workers that experts say they need given their number of cases. Read more here.
College Athletes Are Finding Their Voice
In recent weeks, University of Texas football players leveraged their power to push their schools to remove Confederate monuments, while Clemson players organized protests against racial injustice. As the athletes feel the impact of George Floyd’s death and the COVID-19 crisis, they may now have an opportunity to demand more economic rights, Sean Gregory writes for TIME. Read more here.
The Black Lives Protests Might Not Have Caused a COVID-19 Spike
It’s still too soon to tell for sure, but the nationwide protests against police violence might not have been COVID-19 hotspots, the Wall Street Journal reports. In New York City, the rate of positive tests has continued to trend downward since June 5, and Seattle said that they have not detected an increase from the protests. Read more here.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Tara Law and edited by Elijah Wolfson.
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