WHO reports record one-day total of new cases

The World Health Organization reported a record number of new coronavirus cases Friday – more than 350,000 in a single day.

WHO now reports a total of 36,361,054 coronavirus cases, although WHO officials have said this is a vast undercount and estimate there are likely many times that number of cases.

WHO reported 6,339 new deaths Friday, for a total of 1,056,186 deaths so far in the pandemic.

Note: CNN relies exclusively on Johns Hopkins University data for its coronavirus case and death counts. Johns Hopkins currently reports 36,685,866 Covid-19 cases and 1,064,204 deaths. The record one-day count recorded by Johns Hopkins was 361,019 cases globally on Sept. 24.

More closures and restrictions were announced in Canada on Friday as new, daily cases of Covid-19 doubled in less than three weeks. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and public health officials released new modeling Friday that showed a further doubling of new, daily cases was possible within weeks if people don’t begin to restrict their contacts by about a third. 

Ontario joined the province of Quebec Friday with targeted closures in its largest urban centers that include a ban on dine-in restaurants and the closure of bars. Both Toronto and Montreal, Canada’s two largest cities have now shuttered restaurants and bars as hospitalizations increase.  

Trudeau pleaded with Canadians to stay home as much as possible, especially during the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday coming up this weekend. 

“We need people to do everything they can to prevent transmission of this virus. Stay home as much as possible, listen to the public health advice, download the COVID alert app, wear a mask and really, really, pull together and lean back by stepping apart these coming weeks,” he said adding, “We flattened the curve before, we can do it again.” 

Trudeau said more targeted closures, instead of a lockdown, are now possible during this second wave because more is known about how the virus is transmitted. Public health officials pointed out that while the majority of Canadian children are attending classes in-person, so far, schools have not been a significant source of transmission. 

But Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, warned that while the vast majority of new cases have been detected in Canadians under the age of 40, the virus is again gaining a foothold in vulnerable long-term care centers and that is now putting more pressure on hospitals. 

“We are now observing an increase in hospitalizations in some regions and the overall number of Covid-19 cases in hospital per day has more than doubled, from 380 cases at the time of our last update to 820 cases in hospital yesterday,” she said at the news conference. 

Florida health officials reported at least 2,908 new cases of Covid-19 and 118 resident deaths on Friday, according to the Florida Department of Health.  

The health department has reported at least 2,200 new coronavirus cases daily for four consecutive days, CNN’s tally shows. 

This brings the state’s total cases to at least 728,921 and Floridian death toll to 15,186, the department’s data shows. 

At least 45,675 Florida residents with Covid-19 have been hospitalized since the start of the pandemic, the department’s data shows.   

Note: These numbers were released by Florida’s 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.

Three members of Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards’ staff have been quarantined after one of them tested positive for Covid-19, according to a statement from the governor’s office.  

The staffer, who was not identified, tested positive on Thursday, the statement said. 

The person who tested positive did not have close contact with the governor, the statement said. 

President Trump has signed off on a roughly $1.8 trillion stimulus offer to be presented to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to two people with knowledge of the decision.

The offer would mark the highest topline dollar figure the administration has put on the table to this point — up from $1.6 trillion earlier this week.

The number remains below the $2.2 trillion in the bill passed last week by House Democrats — and Pelosi has been unwilling to go below $2 trillion in negotiations up to this point, people familiar with the matter say.

And the details in the offer remain as important — if not more so — than the offer itself. The specifics are not currently known, though they are expected to be presented to Pelosi today.

Pelosi has said repeatedly that the actual legislative language — and where that language directs the funds — has become the most critical aspect of any agreement.

Trump’s willingness to “go big,” as he framed it on Twitter Friday, runs risks inside his own party. Republicans in both chambers have voiced concern over any price tag above $1 trillion. And many are opposed to any new aid at all.

Paul Mango, deputy chief of staff for policy at the US Department of Health Human Services, said, “I can tell you that we currently – as of today – have access to a couple hundred thousand doses of the monoclonal antibodies.”

“We expect that volume to exceed a total of a million before year-end 2020,” he said during a Friday briefing.

Mango declined to provide further details, saying, “I think it’s a little bit market sensitive to talk about which manufacturer has what,” he said. He added that if an emergency use authorization is granted, “We will have enough to take care of the Americans that need that from a clinical perspective, and that production will continue to ramp up as we go throughout the fall.”

Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, tampered expectations a bit, reminding the US, “How many doses [are] available of a therapeutic depends on the actual milligram dose that is show to be effective,” as well as the patient population across the nation.

Earlier in the briefing, Woodcock said, “We feel like the early indications of antiviral activity and potential impact on the clinical course of disease is very promising.”

“Of course we will see what decisions the FDA makes about perhaps making these more widely available,” she said. “In the meantime we continue to study these antibodies we plan to study more of them in our master protocols that we have ongoing.”

Some context: Eli Lilly and Company’s monoclonal antibody combination therapy reduced virus levels, hospitalizations and emergency room visits in patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19, the pharmaceutical company said Wednesday.

Based on new interim data and previous study results, the pharmaceutical company said it submitted a request to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization for its single monoclonal antibody therapy, and said it expects to submit an EUA request for its combination therapy in November. 

The hold placed on the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine clinical trial continues, Paul Mango, deputy chief of staff for policy at the US Department of Health Human Services said during a briefing on Friday.

Four of the six candidates for a vaccine are currently in Phase three clinical trails, he said. One of those is the paused AstraZeneca trial.

“The other three are doing exceptionally well,” Mango said, adding that minority recruiting has “exceeded the threshold necessary to ensure we have the appropriate diversity.”

“Both Moderna and Pfizer – as you’ve read – are essentially completed with their recruiting into their clinical trials,” Mango said.

“In Johnson and Johnson, the Janssen product, really just started just in the last couple of weeks. And just by way of reminder, again, that’s a single dose vaccine, not two doses, so we anticipate that they’ll get through their clinical trials a bit faster than the other two,” he added.

Some background:  AstraZeneca announced last month that it had paused global trials of its coronavirus vaccine because of an unexplained illness in one of the volunteers.

“As part of the ongoing randomized, controlled global trials of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine, our standard review process triggered a pause to vaccination to allow review of safety data,” the company said in a statement sent to CNN.

National Institutes of Health director Dr. Francis Collins told a Senate hearing that it’s a standard precaution in vaccine trials meant to ensure experimental vaccines don’t cause serious reactions among participants.

“To have a clinical hold, as has been placed on AstraZeneca, as of yesterday, because of a single serious adverse event, is not at all unprecedented,” Collins said at a hearing of the Senate Heath, Education, Labor and Pensions committee.

The company is testing its vaccine, called the Oxford vaccine because it was developed with Britain’s University of Oxford, in the United States as well as the UK, Latin America, Asia, Europe and Africa.

Italy has reported at least 5,372 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to 343,770 since the pandemic began.

The increase represents the highest daily rise in new cases since March 28, when the country was under strict lockdown rules.

The death toll has increased by at least 28 during the past 24 hours to reach a total of at least 36,111.

The Broadway League announced on Friday that all ticket sales for Broadway performances in New York City will be suspended through May 30, 2021.

All 41 Broadway theaters have been closed since March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Broadway League, which is the national traded association for the Broadway Industry, has repeatedly extended the suspension of shows. Most recently, the league said shows would not be returning to the stage until at least January of 2021.

The Broadway League says theatergoers holding tickets for dates through May 30, 2021 should contact their point of purchase for details about exchanges and refunds.