Coronavirus cases in US cross 50K-mark again, Donald Trump Jr’s girlfriend infected | World News - Hindustan Times
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Coronavirus cases in US cross 50K-mark again, Donald Trump Jr’s girlfriend infected

Hindustan Times, Washington | ByYashwant Raj | Edited by Arpan Rai
Jul 04, 2020 10:21 PM IST

Miami county of Florida declared an indefinite night-time curfew and shut down some businesses and many states around the United States scaled down their July 4 Independence Day celebrations, as mass gatherings have emerged as one of the leading causes of this second flare-up.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of the US president’s eldest son and a top fundraiser for his re-election campaign, was among the new Covid-19 infections reported on Friday, which logged yet another single-day high of more than 50,000 cases, and seven states saw their own record daily spikes.

Donald Trump Jr. walks with his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle after arriving at Andrews Air Force Base after traveling to Florida.(AP)
Donald Trump Jr. walks with his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle after arriving at Andrews Air Force Base after traveling to Florida.(AP)

Confirmed cases are climbing in 40 states, and the US set another record Friday with 52,300 newly reported infections, according to Johns Hopkins University, reported news agency Associated Press.

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Miami county of Florida declared an indefinite night-time curfew and shut down some businesses and many states around the United States scaled down their July 4 Independence Day celebrations, as mass gatherings have emerged as one of the leading causes of this second flare-up.

Guilfoyle tested positive just ahead of the Mt Rushmore pre-celebrations on Friday. She had travelled to the celebrations with Donald Trump Jr, but not reportedly on Air Force. She is the third person with possible proximity to the president to test positive, after a personal valet and a member of the vide-president’s staff tested positive in the past.

The Trump re-election campaign said Guilfoyle was asymptomatic but has been “immediately isolated” to prevent exposure to others and will be rested. The president’s son, who has tested negative, went into self-quarantine for 14 days, the usual period, and has cancelled all public events.

The number of new cases went up by 52,104 Friday to nearly 2.8 million fatalities by 631 to 129,438. Public health officials have warned that daily cases could as high 100,000 because of this new round of infections and deaths could climb to 148,000 towards the end of this month.

Seven states, all in the south, reported record single-day spikes Friday: North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alaska, Missouri, Idaho and Alabama. Florida and Texas, two of the total of 16 southern states in the grip of tis new surge, also continued to report high number of infections and hospitalisation.

Florida reported close to 9,500 new cases on Friday, a day after record surge of 10,000, indicating grimmer situation by the day. Eileen Marty, a leading public health expert, told a local news organization, that Florida was “heading a million miles an hour in the wrong direction”.

At least one of its counties, Miami-Dade, the state’s most populous, has moved to change the course. Mayor Carlos Gimenez ordered a night-time curfew from 10 pm to 6 am, beginning Friday and it will be in place indefinitely. He has also shut down casinos, strip clubs, movie theaters and other entertainment venues.

“This curfew is meant to stop people from venturing out and hanging out with friends in groups, which has shown to be spreading the virus rapidly,” Gimenez said in a statement.

As with the rest of the country, infections are shooting up in US prions and went past the 50,000 mark in June according to an AP report citing the Marshall Project. At the end of last month, the total number of cases among prisoners had reached at least 52,649, an increase of 8 per cent from the week before.

Evidence of human to animal transmission of the virus surfaced as well after a dog in Georgia was found infected. The six-year-old mixed breed canine was showing signs after its owners fell ill of the virus. Two New York city cats were the first pets to test positive in April.

A tiger at a NewYork zoo was the first case of an animal reported infected in the US — it caught the virus from a member of the staff. Three more tigers and three lions were also reported infected shortly at the same facility. They have all since recovered.

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