COVID-19 update: Global cases 1.85 million, deaths exceed 114,000

Fewer new deaths were reported in hard-hit Italy and France.Parts of the U.S. may be ready in May to ease emergency measures, Anthony Fauci said a day after the country became the world's epicenter for coronavirus.

Latest updates as of now:

Sneakers Maker Asked to Halt Vietnam Operations

Ho Chi Minh City is seeking the Vietnam premier's approval to temporarily shut down a unit of Pou Chen Corp., the world's largest maker of athletic shoes, because of concerns about a potential outbreak of the coronavirus. Authorities for the metropolis, which has the most confirmed virus patients in the country after Hanoi, are concerned about Pouyuen Vietnam, which employs 70,000 workers and operates three shifts a day.

Vietnam Aims to Boost Mask Exports

The trade ministry is ordering overseas branches to urgently find customers for cloth face masks to help the textile and garment business mitigate damage wrought by the coronavirus, according to a post on the government website Sunday. The country has sufficient capacity to become a key maker of cloth masks globally, a ministry representative was cited as saying.

Philippines Aims to Reopen in May

The country has sufficient funds for coronavirus response and will secure more to restart the economy, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez tells CNN Philippines. The country is hoping to reopen the economy by early May.

China Cases Mostly Imported

China reported additional 108 cases for April 12, of which 98 were from overseas, according to the National Health Commission. There were 61 asymptomatic cases. China has 1,064 asymptomatic coronavirus cases under medical observation as of April 12.

FDA Authorises Decontamination of N95 Respirators

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorisation that has the potential to decontaminate approximately four million N95 or N95-equivalent respirators per day in the U.S. for reuse by health care workers in hospital settings.

"We need to do everything we can to increase the availability of the critical medical devices they need, like N95 respirators," FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn said in a statement. "This authorization will help provide access to millions of respirators so our health care workers on the front lines can be better protected."

U.S. Case Rate Falls for Second Day

U.S. cases rose 5.4% from a day earlier to more than 542,000 by midday Sunday, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. The rise was below the 7.9% average daily increase over the past week.

Cases rose almost 10% for the 24 hours ended on April 8, according to the data, a rate that fell to 7.9% on Friday and 5.6% on Saturday.

New York's cases rose about 4%. South Dakota experienced a 17% rise from Saturday, bringing the total to 730.

Turkish Minister Quits After Chaos

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu quit after a hastily announced weekend lockdown led thousands of people to spill onto streets, raising the risk of a new wave of infections. Soylu said on Twitter that he took full responsibility for the lockdown.

Later Sunday, President Tayyip Erdogan said he would not accept the resignation.

The minister was criticized after giving two hours warning late Friday of the action, abruptly ending weeks of social distancing measures as Turks flocked to buy groceries.

Pork Producer Warns of Shortages 

The world's biggest pork producer warned that the closure of processing factories as employees test positive for coronavirus is pushing meat supplies "perilously close to the edge" of shortfalls.

Smithfield Foods Inc. said it will idle its Sioux Falls, South Dakota, pork-processing facility - which accounts for 4% to 5% of U.S. production - after state officials reported more than 200 cases of Covid-19 at that company alone.

Mark Cuban Predicts Fanless NBA Games

Mark Cuban, the owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks, said crowding back into sports stadiums and arenas won't happen until the "science" is in place to make people feel safe.

"I think initially we'll play just for the TV cameras, with essential personnel and players," the billionaire said on "Fox News Sunday."

"People aren't going to just venture outside," he said. "They're not going to go to large gatherings. They're not going to feel confident right off the bat. There's going to be a lot of trepidation."

France Cases Lowest in a Week

France's new coronavirus cases fell to the lowest in a week and the number of intensive-care patients dropped for a fourth day. Infections rose by 2,937 to 132,591 cases, the smallest increase since April 5, the health ministry said in an emailed statement. The death toll rose by 561, the fewest in four days, to 14,393.

"We're observing the beginning of a very high leveling off," the health ministry said. "But we must remain vigilant because hospitals and ICUs are taking care of a very large number of patients."

Mexico Exchange Chairman Dies 

The chairman of Mexico's stock exchange, Jaime Ruiz Sacristan, died early Sunday more than three weeks after he was hospitalized with coronavirus. He was 70. A statement from Bolsa Mexicana de Valores SAB didn't cite a specific cause.

Ruiz, chairman since 2015, was among a cluster of high-profile Mexican executives who had tested positive after returning from a ski-resort vacation to Vail, Colorado, on a private jet.

Italy Daily Deaths Fewest Since March 19

Italy reported 431 new deaths in the past day, the fewest in more than three weeks, as declining numbers of intensive care patients pointed to a lessening severity of the country's outbreak. The country had 619 fatalities a day earlier.

The daily count is the lowest since March 19, when Italy registered 427 dead. Total fatalities reached 19,899, the most in Europe.

The country reported 4,092 new cases, compared with 4,694 a day earlier, civil protection officials said.

Fed Official Warns of Flare Ups

Without an effective therapy or a vaccine, the U.S. could expect 18 months of rolling shutdowns as the outbreak recedes and then returns, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said.

"We're looking around the world. As they relax the economic controls, the virus flares back up again," Kashkari said Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation."

"This could be a long hard road that we have ahead of us until we get either to an effective therapy or a vaccine," he said. "It's hard for me to see a V-shaped recovery under that scenario."

New York Deaths Fall for Third Day

New York State had 758 deaths in the past 24 hours, down from 783 the day before and the third straight day of declines, Governor Andrew Cuomo said at his daily press conference.

It's the sixth straight day of more than 700 deaths in the state, a fact Cuomo called "tragic." Total deaths are 9,385, exceeded only by the tolls in Italy, Spain, France and the U.K.

Cases reached 188,694, a rise of 8,236, the Department of Health reported, around one-in-ten of reported cases around the world.

Deaths in UK Top 10,000

The U.K. became the fifth country to record more than 10,000 deaths from the coronavirus. A daily increase of 737 brings the total number of Britons to die from the disease to 10,612, the Health Ministry said on Sunday.

"The U.K. is likely to be certainly one of the worst, if not the worst affected country in Europe," Jeremy Farrar, a member of the scientific panel advising the government on the pandemic, told the BBC on Sunday.

Fauci Says Reopening Could Start in May

Parts of the U.S. may be ready in May to ease emergency measures taken against the pandemic but there's no universal "light switch" to flip on, Anthony Fauci said.

"It could probably start at least in some ways maybe next month," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

Boris Johnson Released 

The U.K. prime minister has been discharged from the hospital and will continue his recovery at the government's country residence Chequers, a government spokesman said in a statement on Sunday.

"On the advice of his medical team, the PM will not be immediately returning to work," the spokesman said.

Boris Johnson thanked NHS staff yesterday, saying "I owe them my life."

China's Harbin Tightens Measures

The northeastern Chinese city of Harbin extended its quarantine for certain visitor arrivals.

Arrivals from overseas or domestic regions with high risks are required to quarantine for 14 days at designated site first, then another 14 days at home, according to a statement from the municipal government. These visitors would also required to take two nucleic acid tests and a serum antibody test.

Spanish Cases Fall

Spain reported 619 deaths from the coronavirus on Sunday as the total number of people who have died in the country approaches 17,000. Fewer new cases of the disease were reported than the day before. There were 4,167 new infections in the 24 hours through Sunday, pushing the total above 166,000, according to Health Ministry data.

Iran Lifting Travel Ban

Iran will lift a ban on civilians traveling between provinces from April 20, President Hassan Rouhani said on state television. The announcement follows the easing of some social-distancing regulations on the business sector as Iran tries to alleviate the virus's toll on its sanctions-hit economy. The death toll in Iran has risen to 4,357, with over 70,000 known cases.

China Stops Trial of a Gilead Drug 

A Chinese trial of Gilead Sciences Inc.'s antiviral drug remdesivir was stopped after failing to enroll enough patients with severe symptoms, the company's Chief Executive Officer Daniel O'Day wrote in an open letter dated April 10.China previously said it would announce the results of two remdesivir trials for patients with mild to severe symptoms on April 27. The discontinuation of the severe patient trial came as the number of cases dropped in China. "The publication of data from the China remdesivir trials rests with the Chinese investigators, but we have been informed that the study in patients with severe symptoms was stopped due to stalled enrollment," O'Day said.