www.zerohedge.com 
Summary:
- Texas sees record jump in hospitalizations
- California reports jump in daily cases
- Taj Mahal closed until further notice
- India draws nearer to Russia amid another record jump in cases
- World sees record jump in COVID-19 cases
- Florida reports 9,999 new cases
- Arizona sees roughlt 3,500 new cases
- South Africa sees record jump in new cases
- US reports 53k cases for Sunday
- WHO cancels hydroxychloroquine trials
- Russia cases near 700k
- Japan sees another 277 new cases
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Update (1900ET):Â Texas saw daily hospitalizations reach a fresh record high on Sunday as 8,181 patients with the virus were admitted to hospitals around the state, even as the number of new COVID-19 cases reported declined day-over-day.
Texas reported 3,449 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 Sunday, after a record high of 8,258 Saturday.
State health officials also reported 29 additional deaths, bringing the totals to 2,637 deaths and 195,239 confirmed cases, per state data.
Officials in cities like Austin are pushing Gov Abbott to return control to municipalities to allow some places to implement new stay-at-home orders, a measure the governor has resisted despite making mask-wearing mandatory. Mayor Steve Adler, a Democrat, said as much on CNNâs âState of the Unionâ Sunday as he warned that hospitals have been facing a crisis and ICUs could be overrun in as few as 10 days. A few counties warned that their ICUs had been overwhelmed over the last couple of days, and hospitals in Houston have already needed to transport some patients 50 miles away. In the Houston area, Democratic Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo claimed a stay-at-home order is needed.
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Update (1435ET):Â California reported another 5,410 new cases (+2.1%) on Sunday (remember, the cases are reported with a 24 hour delay). The positivity rate was 6.3%, down slightly from the rates seen on Thursday and Friday.
The new cases brought the state’s total case count count climbed to 260,155
CALIFORNIA
260,155 Cases / 6,331 COVID-19 deathsRt = 1.20 (+.04%)
Test Positivity = 6.3% (-0.2%)
New Cases = +5,410 (+2.1%)
New C19 Non-ICU Hospitalizations = +74 (+1.3%)
New C19 ICU Cases = +29 (+1.7%)
New C19 Deaths = +18 (+0.3%)Updated for 7/4 pic.twitter.com/7wX378IRGU
— kathycybele #MaskItOrCasket when you are not @home (@KathyCybele) July 5, 2020
The state also reported 17 deaths on Saturday…
July 4th C19 death rate in California still on downward weekly trend (17 deaths saturday) inspite increasing cases: pic.twitter.com/2b979CP83K
— Michael Nova, M.D. (@BigDataNova) July 5, 2020
…which means mortality continues to trend lower across the state.
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Update (1430ET):Â Already, it looks like India reported another record (or near record) total of new cases on Sunday.
The post-lockdown surge in the world’s second-most-populous nation took India’s total tally to more than 673,000 cases and 19,268 deaths, moving India closer to surpassing badly-hit Russia, the world’s third-most infected nation.
…officials have announced that the Taj Mahal, India’s most popular tourist attraction and one of the seven wonders of the modern world, won’t reopen any time soon.
“The Taj Mahal, which is in the Taj Ganj police station jurisdiction, is a ‘containment zone’,” a document released by Agra’s District Magistrate Prabhu N Singh stated late Sunday.
Containment zones are where high infection rates have been detected, with all activity except essential services halted.
* * *
The world celebrated America’s independence by reporting 212,000 new cases of the Coronavirus yesterday, with roughly half that total came from the US, India and Brazil alone.
Data from Johns Hopkins put the number at 207k:
JHU put the number of cases confirmed in the US yesterday at 52,391, with 7.6% of tests coming back positive.
Source:Â JHU
The last record high in the US arrived on July 3, when 57,549 people tested positive for the first time.
Following studies showing hydroxychloroquine can be effective at mitigating symptoms in patients if taken early enough in the life of the infection, the WHO said yesterday that it planned to discontinue trials of the Trump-approved malaria drug, along with a combination HIV drugs known as lopinavir/ritonavir in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 after the medications failed to reduce mortality.
This comes almost exactly a month after the WHO decided to resume trials of the drug.
Worldwide cases have reached 11.23 million while 6.04 million patients have recovered, according to the latest Johns Hopkins University tally. The number of deaths worldwide hit more than 530,000.
Already, Arizona and Florida have reported their case numbers for the last 24 hours, with both states seeing a minor retreat from the all-time highs in daily case numbers.
As of Sunday, coronavirus cases are on the rise in 34 states over the past week, with 12 seeing an increase of more than 50%. Three states, Kentucky, New Hampshire and Vermont, are reporting a decline in cases.
Florida reported 9,999 new coronavirus cases Sunday, coming one day after the state set a record for most cases in a single day with a total of 11,458 new cases, which also surpassed New York’s previous single-day high of 11,434, which was recorded in mid-April.
Arizona reported 3,536 new cases, and 4 deaths, bringing its total confirmed to 98,089 1,809 coronavirus-related deaths, according to the state’s latest numbers.
New York, meanwhile, saw another 533 new cases and 8 fatalities.
Today's update on the numbers:
63,415 tests were performed yesterday. 533 tests came back positive (0.84% of total).
Total hospitalizations fell to 832.
Sadly, there were 8 COVID fatalities yesterday. pic.twitter.com/tKaIjWP8tO
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) July 5, 2020
He also confirmed the state would move on to phase 3 tomorrow.
NYC will enter Phase 3 of reopening tomorrow. Indoor dining will remain closed.
Wear a mask. Socially distance. Be smart. #NewYorkTough
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) July 5, 2020
Internationally, the Philippines reported its biggest jump in new cases with 2,434, taking its total count to 44,254, the health ministry said.
South Africa is reporting more than 10,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases for the first time in a single day, bringing the countryâs total confirmed cases to more than 187,977, by far the most of any country in Africa.
South Africa also has surpassed the deaths of 3,000 people in the outbreak.
As more of the Middle East rolls back restrictions, Saudi Arabia’s coronavirus cases have surpassed 200,000 and neighboring UAE has 50,000, with the number of new cases climbing after both countries fully lifted curfews last month.
Russia reported 6,736 new cases, bringing its total to 681,251, with 134 new deaths bringing its death toll to 10,161. India saw its biggest surge in COVID-19 cases, with 24,850 new cases and 613 deaths in the last 24 hours. The countryâs tally of infections rose to 673,165 as the death toll increased to 19,268, according to health ministry data.
FInally, Japan reported 277 new coronavirus cases Sunday morning, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 20,234 (19,522 on land and 712 on the Diamond Princess cruise ship).
