Testing for coronavirus in California. Officials have urged widespread testing as lockdowns ease.
Photo: Keith Birmingham/Zuma PressTrump administration health officials urged caution and widespread testing while easing coronavirus lockdowns and House Democrats unveiled a proposed relief package, as governments across the world looked toward longer-term responses to the pandemic.
The California State University system said Tuesday that it would cancel most in-person classes and hold them online in the fall, and the University of California said its schools were prepared to hold classes primarily online as well.
The Latest on the Coronavirus
- Johns Hopkins: U.S. cases near 1.4 million; deaths above 82,000
- Johns Hopkins: World-wide cases top 4.2 million; more than 292,000 deaths
- California State University system plans for online classes in fall
More than 4.2 million cases of the disease caused by the new coronavirus have been confirmed world-wide, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University. Of that figure, nearly 1.4 million have been recorded in the U.S., which has recorded more than 82,000 deaths, the highest of any country. World-wide, more than 292,000 people have died, according to the Johns Hopkins data.
Health experts warn that the true figures are likely higher. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told senators on Tuesday that the actual death toll from Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, is likely higher because at the peak of the outbreak in hot spots like New York, many people died at home and never made it to a hospital to be tested.
Dr. Fauci in his testimony urged caution as the country took steps toward reopening, warning that risks would continue into the fall as schools resumed classes.
“If certain areas prematurely open up, my concern is we might see spikes that turn into outbreaks,” he said.
House Democrats, meanwhile, kicked off a debate over the next round of government relief, releasing a roughly $3 trillion bill to battle the health and economic effects of the epidemic. The sum is about double what Congress has allocated so far, and lays out a position ahead of negotiations with Senate Republicans, who are wary of additional spending.
Among the bill’s priorities are “opening our economy safely and soon, honoring our heroes and then putting much-needed money into the pockets of the American people,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said.
The measures come as institutions across the U.S. reopened at an uneven pace. Although universities in California plan to remain primarily online-only this autumn, most schools that have made announcements say they intend to bring students back in the fall, according to a tally kept by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Colleges and universities are under financial pressure to resume in-person classes.
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Experts say the level of testing in the U.S. continues to fall short of what is needed to reopen the country safely. As governors seek to increase testing capacity and build contact-tracing teams as they move toward easing their lockdowns, some are encountering friction with President Trump over how and when to ease restrictions.
Mr. Trump on Tuesday backed the decision by Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk to reopen the electric-car maker’s California plant, in defiance of state restrictions.
“We do want to reopen this country because there are consequences that run the other way when we stay closed down as a country,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.
Twitter Inc. said it would allow employees to work from home permanently. Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said employees will likely not be allowed to return to the company’s offices before September. Other big tech companies, including Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc., have said the majority of their employees will work from home through the end of the year.
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In other hard-hit countries where the contagion has slowed, governments are weighing the risks of triggering new outbreaks as they plot steps to ease virus-containment measures in the weeks and months ahead.
The U.K. government began a modest relaxation of measures Wednesday. People in England were encouraged to go to work if they could do so safely. Garden centers, golf courses and other outdoor sports facilities were allowed to reopen there, while real-estate agents were permitted to show homes to prospective buyers. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which have semi-autonomous governments, stuck with a stay-at-home message.
More changes will take longer. U.K. officials say they are considering reopening elementary schools in June and cafes, pubs and restaurants in July. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called the process, slower than in much of Europe, a “supremely difficult” balancing act.
Critics have linked Britain’s high Covid-19 death toll—more than 32,000, a national tally exceeded only in the U.S.—to Mr. Johnson’s decision to delay the imposition of a lockdown until March 23, after many other countries had taken action. Britain’s slow emergence from closure leaves it with the prospect of a prolonged hit to the economy as well. The Bank of England expects the economy to contract by one quarter in the three months ending June 30.
In France, where shops are welcoming back customers and children are returning to school this week, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo pleaded on the radio Wednesday for a reopening of the city’s parks. “It’s a matter of public health,” she said. French health authorities have repeatedly said no.
Beaches are starting to reopen in western France but people are allowed only to swim, fish or walk around. Picnics and sunbathing are still banned.
In Asia, some countries that had made strides containing the epidemic were scrambling to tamp down new outbreaks. In South Korea, officials were battling a new cluster of more than 100 cases traced to a 29-year-old man who visited clubs in a popular Seoul nightclub district in early May.
As of Wednesday, there were 26 new confirmed cases in the country, with 22 of them being local infections, bringing South Korea’s total to 10,962, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
In Wuhan, China, authorities vowed to dramatically expand testing in the city after six new infections were found over the weekend.
Chinese state media reported that the city would expand testing to cover all 11 million residents in a 10-day campaign. The Wuhan health commission declined to confirm the report when contacted by The Wall Street Journal, but the city’s party chief, Wang Zhonglin, said on Monday that testing would be expanded.
In late December, Wuhan became the first city to record cases of the new coronavirus. Beijing now appears to be stalling international efforts to find the source of the virus amid an escalating U.S. push to blame China for the pandemic, according to interviews with dozens of health experts and officials. Chinese officials have increasingly questioned whether the virus originated in China and rejected calls for an international investigation from U.S., Australian and European officials.
Australia, meanwhile, reported six cases of the new coronavirus linked to a McDonald’s in Melbourne, raising fears of a new cluster in the country following success in containing its spread.
Iran recorded 1,958 new infections, the most in a day since April 10. The government said the outbreak is under control in all but the southwestern province of Khuzestan, where officials fault mass gatherings at weddings and funerals for a surge of cases. Iran’s health minister said Wednesday he was pleased with the adherence to hygiene regulations by mosques that had been allowed to reopen last week, saying only one had breached the protocol by offering tea to worshipers.
In Singapore, an American commercial pilot who breached a quarantine order in April by leaving his hotel room was sentenced to four weeks in jail, according to a representative for the city-state’s Attorney-General’s Chambers.
Hong Kong on Tuesday ended a 23-day streak of no local infections after a 66-year-old woman with no recent travel history was found to have contracted the virus, the government said. The city on Wednesday recorded three new cases, two of which were transmitted locally.
More
- Fauci, Officials Cite Risks of Early Opening
- Gilead’s Remdesivir Tested With Other Drugs to Fight Covid-19
- Live Updates: U.K. Delayed Extent of Economic Decline by Pushing Back Lockdown
- Companies Start Reaping Billions in Tax Breaks to Ride Out Economic Slump
- Powell Says Washington Will Need to Spend More to Battle Downturn
Write to Dan Strumpf at daniel.strumpf@wsj.com and Noemie Bisserbe at noemie.bisserbe@wsj.com
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