Live Updates: Nearly 100,000 Americans Have Died From Covid-19 – Barron’s

Nurses talk through a glass door of a coronavirus Covid-19 patients room in the intensive care unit of a medical center in San Jose, Calif. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Getty Images

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Heres what you need to know about the coronavirus outbreak to navigate the markets today.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended his advisor Dominic Cummings, who has come under fire for traveling hundreds of miles to see his parents while he and his wife had coronavirus symptoms and the country was under lockdown orders. In every respect, he has acted responsibly, legally and with integrity, Johnson said. I think what they did was totally understandable. I think any father, any parent would understand what he did.

Nearly 100,000 Americans have died from Covid-19, data collected by Johns Hopkins University show. There were just under 23,000 new cases in the U.S. on May 23. Nationally, the number of new cases has begun to rise slightly, despite a continued decline in New York, the center of the pandemic in the U.S. All 50 states have now announced at least a partial loosening of lockdown rules.

Hong Kong riot police shot tear gas and water canons at crowds to break up thousands of pro-democracy protesters on Sunday, Reuters reported. Chanting Hong Kong independence, the only way out, the crowds protested the Chinese governments plan to amend the law governing the semi-autonomous city and outlaw a wide-range of political activities. That so-called national security legislation could lead the U.S. to impose sanctions on China, White House National Security Adviser Robert OBrien said Sunday on NBCs Meet the Press. OBrien also said that the U.S. would likely be unable to say that Hong Kong has a high degreee of autonomy from Beijing if the law is put in place, a move that could threaten Hong Kongs status as a global financial and trade hub.

Unemployment could be north of 20% for May and keep rising after that, White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett told CNN on Sunday. My expectation is that since theres still initial claims for unemployment insurance in May, that the unemployment rate will be higher in June than in May, but then after that it should start to trend down, he said.

Write to Ben Walsh at ben.walsh@barrons.com

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Live Updates: Nearly 100,000 Americans Have Died From Covid-19 - Barron's