(Bloomberg) — China said its one new coronavirus case was imported, and South Korea reported 49 new cases, mostly in the greater Seoul area, with one more death.
President Donald Trump told India Prime Minister Narendra Modi the U.S. would ship 100 donated ventilators to the South Asian nation. Brazil reported a record day of deaths.
The U.K. will publish details of its plan to impose a 14-day quarantine on all overseas arrivals, effective June 8. Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to reset his government’s agenda with a financial statement and a speech on the post-pandemic landscape.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases pass 6.3 million; deaths exceed 380,200
- Wall Street sends wine, masks to clients with steakhouses closed
- Trump’s WHO exit threatens polio, tuberculosis along with Covid
- Indonesia’s most-populous province to ease curbs in 15 cities
- Social distancing is improving your shopping experience
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China Says New Coronavirus Case Reported June 2 Is Imported (10:10 a.m. HK)
The one additional coronavirus case is reported in Guangdong province, according to a statement from China’s National Health Commission.
Another four asymptomatic cases are reported, with two of them arriving from abroad. China has 357 asymptomatic coronavirus cases under medical observation.
China has 83,021 confirmed coronavirus cases, and its total death toll is at 4,634.
Tyson Reinstates Policy That Penalizes Absentee Workers (9:27 a.m. HK)
Tyson Foods Inc., the biggest U.S. meat processor, will return to its pre-Covid-19 absentee policy, which includes punishing workers for missing work due to illness, the company confirmed in a statement to Bloomberg.
Earlier, the company said would resume limited production on June 3 at an Iowa plant that had an outbreak of the coronavirus. At the Storm Lake plant, 591 workers tested positive out of 2,303 that were tested, the company announced Tuesday. More than 75% of the positive cases are asymptomatic.
Separately, at the company’s Council Bluffs plant, 224 tested positive out of its 1,483 employees.
Singapore’s Long Lockdown Challenges Leaders Facing Election (8:56 a.m. HK)
Singapore’s approach to the virus is set to become a defining issue in upcoming elections, with lockdown curbs set to drag on past most of Asia’s after its original, less restrictive approach was scuppered by a second wave of infections.
The city state is trying to prevent another resurgence in virus cases after an outbreak centered on its army of low-waged migrant workers sent cases above 35,000. The result is a cautious, three-stage strategy of opening up that puts it behind other countries in the region that started restrictive lockdowns weeks before Singapore.
The People’s Action Party, which has held power since Singapore’s independence in 1965, is still widely expected to win an election that must be held by early next year. But any significant narrowing of its margin of victory could shake confidence in a new generation of leaders being groomed to take over from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s team.
U.K. to Publish Quarantine Plans for Overseas Arrivals (8:14 a.m. HK)
The U.K. will publish details Wednesday of its plan to impose a 14-day quarantine on all overseas arrivals.
The move, which takes effect June 8, was announced by Home Secretary Priti Patel last month. Aside from what her office called “a short list” of exemptions, it will cover everyone arriving in England from abroad. They will be required to fill in a form saying where they will self-isolate.
“As we get the virus under control here, we must manage the risk of cases being imported from abroad,” Patel said in an emailed statement. “We owe it to the thousands who’ve lost their lives not to throw away our progress.”
Under the government’s plan, officials will conduct spot checks to ensure compliance.
Automakers Regain Sales Ground in U.S. After Worst Month in Decades (7:30 a.m. HK)
Automakers started down the road to recovery last month, with U.S. industry sales rebounding from the slowest pace in decades.
The annualized rate of car and truck sales rose to 12.2 million in May from 8.6 million in April, according to Ward’s Automotive Group. The earlier reading was the lowest seasonally adjusted figure in data going back to 1976.
Total sales fell 26% for Toyota Motor Corp., 17% for Honda Motor Co. and 13% for Hyundai Motor Co. in May from a year earlier. While Hyundai’s retail deliveries rose 5% for the month, fleet purchases plunged 79%.
Brazil Reports Deadliest Day (6:45 a.m. HK)
Brazil reported a record 1,262 new deaths on Tuesday, bringing the number of fatalities to 31,199. There were also 28,936 new reported cases, pushing the country’s total to 555,383, behind only the U.S.
The nation of 210 million people has become an epicenter of the virus in the last few weeks. Brazil’s peak has not yet arrived, and “at the moment it is not possible to predict when it will arrive,” Michael Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s Emergencies Program, said Monday.
Harvard Weighs Changes for Virus Era (6:20 a.m. HK)
Harvard University is weighing an array of options — from disinfecting classrooms after each session to reducing the number of students sitting in lecture halls — to cope with the coronavirus pandemic when it reopens, said President Lawrence Bacow.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts, school will also likely cancel some fall sports, he said, and is holding off a decision to resume instruction on campus as long as possible.
“Lots of things will be different when students come back,” Bacow said in an interview on Bloomberg Television with David Rubenstein. “The availability of classrooms will be a challenge.”
Journals Raise Concerns About Data in Covid Studies (5:15 p.m. NY)
Two prestigious medical journals said they have significant concerns about a database that was used to look at how older drugs may work in the treatment of Covid-19.
The New England Journal of Medicine published an “expression of concern” about a study published by the journal on May 1 that looked at the use of heart drugs called ACE inhibitors in coronavirus patients. Later Tuesday the Lancet, a nearly 200-year-old U.K. medical journal, issued its own similar warning on a study about treating Covid-19 patients with the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.
Both studies relied on data from a firm called Surgisphere Corp., which says it aggregates information from medical records around the globe. Last week, more more than 200 scientists signed a letter to the Lancet asking for greater transparency regarding the hospitals where patients’ medical records came from and the method of analysis, along with other issues.
Sapan Desai, Surgisphere’s chief executive officer, said the firm would have an outside group audit the data used in the Lancet study, and would give the authors of the New England Journal paper access to the underlying information so they can review its accuracy.
Zoom Sales Soars on Video Conference Use (5:30 p.m. NY)
Zoom Video Communications Inc. reported quarterly sales that more than doubled, leapfrogging analysts’ estimates, showing that a surge in demand for its video-conference service has translated into more paying customers. The company also doubled its annual revenue forecast.
U.S. Cases Rise 1.2% (4 p.m. NY)
Coronavirus cases in the U.S. increased 1.2% as compared with the same time Monday, to 1.82 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. That’s higher than Monday’s 1% rate, and in line with the average over the past seven days. Deaths rose 0.9% to 106,180.
- New York cases rose 0.4% to 373,040, compared with an average increase of 0.3% over the past seven days.
- Florida cases rose 1.1% to 57,447, compared with an average of 1.3% in the past seven days, according to the state’s health department. Deaths rose 2.8% to 2,530, the biggest jump since May 8.
- California cases climbed 2% to 115,310 while deaths increased 0.8% to 4,286, according to the state’s website.
- Texas cases rose 2.6% to 66,568, exceeding the seven-day average of 2.1%, according to state health department figures. Hospitalizations increased by 1% to 1,773 patients.
U.K. Minorities Face Higher Risk of Dying (12:37 p.m. NY)
People from ethnic minority groups in England face a higher risk of dying if they develop a serious case of Covid-19 than white patients, an analysis by Public Health England showed.
Males, people older than 80 years and those living in deprived areas are also more vulnerable, the agency said in a report published on Tuesday. The study didn’t take into account aggravating factors such as pre-existing medical conditions or obesity.
NYC Mayor Says City Will Still Reopen (11:38 a.m. NY)
Mayor Bill de Blasio still plans to begin reopening New York City on June 8, despite the unrest related to protests over the death of George Floyd and a curfew that will continue for the rest of the week.
“It’s hard to believe that just a few days ago, all we were talking about was the pandemic,” de Blasio said Tuesday. “The pandemic is still there and we must address that. We need to reopen this city.”
Last week, the mayor estimated that 200,000 to 400,000 people will be returning to work in construction, manufacturing, wholesale and curbside retail during the first phase of the city’s reopening.
