India sets another global record for new cases in a single day

India reported at least 95,735 virus cases Thursday, a new record for the highest number of new coronavirus cases reported in one day by a single country, according to John Hopkins University data.

Per JHU, India is seeing daily case numbers well above that of other countries, including high-reporting nations such as the U.S and Brazil.

As of Thursday morning local time, India has seen a total of 4.4 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 nationwide, and more than 919,000 of them are active cases, according to India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total number of recovered patients stands at over 3.4 million, the health ministry also said.

If there is a silver lining to the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s that the technology around developing a vaccine could change the effectiveness and universality of the influenza vaccine.

During a Thursday webinar with the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said there “has been an unprecedented use of new platforms to develop vaccines.” 

“Remember, the flu vaccine, we still develop in eggs — chicken eggs,” she said. “Which seems really archaic, given that in six months we’ve developed Covid vaccines using these incredible platforms.” 

Marrazzo said the pause taken for the AstraZeneca trial “should give people more reassurance that we will be sure to get a safe vaccine out, that we think is effective.”

“Studies are being conducted very, very cautiously and carefully,” she said.

Marrazzo said Operation Warp Speed’s name may have caused undue vaccine hesitancy among Americans, saying that the moniker, which gave people “confidence that we were moving fast, also made a lot of people nervous, because in some ways you would like a vaccine to come at warp speed, but you also don’t want the safety measures sacrificed.”

“The messaging has been the problem throughout this pandemic,” she said.

“We have not had a consistent national message for almost any aspect of pandemic control — whether it relates to how severe the illness is, whether it relates to whether masks are important, and whether it relates to when we’re going to get a vaccine.”

“If we could do anything for this winter season, it would be to have a reliable, trusted, consistent national message from trusted, scientifically informed leaders to get us through this and that’s what we need,” she said.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio laid out the rigorous precautions being taken as indoor dining ramps up to commence in the city on Sept. 30.

The safety measures include:

“What a good thing that indoor dining will be back” he said adding later the measures are important because “we have to get it right.”

The mayor said the city’s daily Covid-19 indicators are all under desired thresholds. The daily number of people admitted to hospitals for Covid-19 is at 78, under the 200 threshold. The confirmed positivity rate for Covid-19 for those patients is 10%.

With regard to new reported cases on a 7-day average, with a threshold of 550 cases, New York City reports 213.

The percent of people who tested positive for Covid-19 city wide is at 1.09%, under the 5% threshold.  

Note: These numbers were released by the citys public health agency, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Singapore Airlines Group announced that it will cut around 4,300 positions across Singapore Airlines, SkillAir, and Scoot due to the debilitating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a statement released on Thursday.

The airline statement said that after considering a “recruitment freeze, natural attrition, and voluntary departure schemes, the potential number of staff affected will be reduced to about 2,400 in Singapore and in overseas stations.”

The airline said it is more vulnerable than other major airlines in the world, as it does not have a domestic market. It said to remain viable in an uncertain landscape it will operate a smaller fleet and reduced network in the coming years.

“The next few weeks will be some of the toughest in the history of the SIA Group as some of our friends and colleagues leave the company,” Singapore Airlines Chief Executive Officer Goh Choon Phong said in a statement. 

“This is not a reflection of the strengths and capabilities of those who will be affected, but the result of an unprecedented global crisis that has engulfed the airline industry.”

New York department store chain Century 21 filed for bankruptcy Thursday and said it will shut down its business.

Century 21 has 13 stores mostly in the New York City and the surrounding metropolitan area. The company blamed the lack of payment on its business interruption insurance as the cause of its demise. 

Department store chains large and small were struggling even before the Covid-19 pandemic caused stores to shut temporarily and shift more purchases online. Stores that depended on clothing sales, such as Century 21, have been hit particularly hard as millions of people are out of work and millions more are working from home and not needing to buy as many dress clothes.

Larger, national department store chains, such as JCPenney, Neiman Marcus and Lord & Taylor have filed for bankruptcy during the pandemic, with Lord & Taylor announcing its own plans to shut down.

But Century 21 said the final straw was the fact that it did not get $175 million it had filed for under its business interruption insurance. It said the policy had saved it in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks — it had a store directly across the street from the World Trade Center, which was destroyed. But it said it has not been able to get the payment this time.

US stocks opened higher on Thursday, as the rebound from the late summer selloff continues at a more moderate pace.

It’s only the third trading day of this shortened week and it’s been a wild ride between the Nasdaq Composite falling into correction territory and stocks roaring back with their best day in months.

Economic data did little to sway investors’ view of the market on Thursday, even though initial jobless claims were unchanged from the prior week, which could be a bad sign for the labor market recovery.

 Here is where things stood at opening:

Kristin Urquiza, whose father died from the coronavirus, says President Trump’s remarks to journalist Bob Woodward on the virus are “simply inexcusable.”

Trump told Woodward that he knew Covid-19 was deadly but “wanted to always play it down” to avoid creating “a panic.”

“My father didn’t panic. Instead, he died,” Urquiza said. “That is what happened to tens of thousands of people across the United States, because of his decision, and because of that, I think he needs to resign.”

Urquiza said her dad would’ve been shocked to hear Trump’s comments.

Watch the interview:

An elementary school teacher died of coronavirus complications a week into the start of the school year in South Carolina.

Demetria Bannister was diagnosed with the virus Friday and died Monday. The 28-year-old had taught at the Windsor Elementary School in Columbia for five years, CNN affiliate WIS reported. She started her third year of teaching third-grade students virtually on August 31.

In addition to teaching, Bannister was also passionate about music, and worked with the school choir in various projects. She also hosted a student club for aspiring singers.

“Known as Windsor’s Songbird, Ms. Bannister used her musical talents to bring a great deal of joy to our school,” said Denise Quickel, principal of Windsor Elementary.

At a school attendance event last year, she wrote a song about the importance of not missing classes to the tune of “Old Town Road,” the popular song by rapper Lil Nas X.

“The song and video were a big hit with our school family,” Quickel said. “Ms. Bannister loved her students and never missed an opportunity to advocate for students and public education.”

Read more:

Another 884,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits on a seasonally adjusted basis last week, the Labor Department reported on Thursday. The number of claims filed was unchanged from the prior week.

That said, the headline number only counts claims for regular benefits that not everyone who lost their livelihood due to the pandemic has access to.

That’s why claims for benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, that help workers like independent contractors, are so important. First-time claims under the PUA program totaled 838,916 last week, up from the prior week.

Meanwhile, 13.4 million American workers filed claims for unemployment insurance for at least two weeks in a row.