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What you need to know about the coronavirus today

New global record
The United States reported more than 55,000 new COVID-19 cases, the largest daily increase any country has ever reported, according to a Reuters tally.

Coronavirus cases are rising in 37 out of 50 U.S. states including Florida, which confirmed more than 10,000 new cases on Thursday. That marked the state’s largest daily spike so far and a level that exceeded single-day tallies from any European country at the height of the outbreak there.

Making masks mandatory in Texas
In a major policy reversal, Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday decreed that face masks must be worn in all counties with over 20 coronavirus cases, billing the measure as a requirement to avoid another economic shutdown.

For over two months, Abbott ignored calls by the Democratic leaders of Texas’ metropolitan areas to mandate mask wearing. Wearing face coverings to slow the spread of the coronavirus is unpopular among Abbott’s conservative Republican base in Texas, but he said in a video released on Thursday that the action was now absolutely necessary.

“We must do more to slow the spread without locking Texas back down,” Abbott said. “We are now at a point where the virus is spreading so fast, there is little margin for error.”

Cashing in on vaccine stock speculation
Biotech firm Moderna Inc could reap tens of billions of dollars in sales and stock appreciation if it wins the race for a COVID-19 vaccine. If it loses, the early-stage company’s value could crash.

In the meantime, the firm’s chief executive Stéphane Bancel is pocketing millions of dollars every month by selling shares that have tripled in price on news of Moderna’s development progress, a Reuters analysis of corporate filings shows.

The lucrative liquidations highlight the unusually powerful incentives for biotech executives to highlight development milestones for drugs that often never get approved or sold, according to interviews with seven executive-compensation experts. Optimistic corporate statements on coronavirus vaccines, they said, could cause investors to overpay for company shares or create false hope among the public and health officials seeking new weapons to fight the pandemic.

Reuters found no evidence that Bancel, the company’s chief medical officer, Tal Zaks or Moderna has exaggerated the company’s vaccine progress.

In-person state convention
The Executive Committee of the Texas Republican Party voted on Thursday to push ahead and have their state convention in person this month despite a surge in coronavirus cases in Houston, where it will take place. About 6,000 people are expected to attend the event.

“Texas maintained our in-person convention process through World War Two, we met together after our 9/11 terrorist attacks despite the danger in the air,” said executive committee member David Covey.

Another committee member, Dr Robin Armstrong, who spoke from a Houston hospital where he was treating COVID-19 patients, said he supported an in-person convention because of the opportunity to pull it off safely. “We can be a great example of how we can successfully get this done,” Armstrong said.

Gold-plated to get the tourists back
A five-star hotel in Vietnamese capital Hanoi has opened with a twist that it hopes will attract guests with intimately expensive tastes: gold-plated bath tubs, basins and even toilets, all housed behind a massive golden exterior.

The Dolce Hanoi Golden Lake Hotel has made the extra effort to bring visitors back to Vietnam where the tourism sector is slowly reopening after a three-month coronavirus lockdown.

Vietnam has been relatively successful in containing the coronavirus outbreak with only 350 or so cases and no reported deaths. Nguyen Huu Duong, majority owner and chairman of Hoa Binh Group, said if not for the pandemic, the hotel would likely be fully booked with international guests.

Track the spread with our U.S-focused and global live graphics.

Breakingviews - Corona Capital: Quarantines, UK bailout, Drugs. Read concise views on the pandemic’s financial fallout from Breakingviews columnists across the globe.

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Life under lockdown

Each day, employees at Farley’s East cafe in Oakland, California fix about 200 turkey, ham and egg salad sandwich lunch plates to be distributed free to the homeless, hungry school-age kids, medical professionals at Covid-19 testing sites, and others in need. It’s a community lifeline as new coronavirus cases and unemployment continue in the Bay Area, leaving parents struggling to feed their families and the unsheltered facing even more uncertainty.

On a holiday weekend that would typically draw crowds to watch fireworks, march in parades and wave the red, white and blue, many Americans kicked off Independence Day exactly where they have been for months: at home. The holiday marking the country’s 244 years of independence comes four days into a month when at least eight states have seen record daily increases in coronavirus cases, leading several governors to toughen social distancing measures and urge people to celebrate from home.

The landlord of the Chandos Arms in Colindale, north London, is looking forward to Saturday - when England’s pubs will reopen after more than three thirsty months - with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. On July 4, Are Kolltveit will welcome back his regular customers for the first time since March 20, when the government closed all Britain’s pubs because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Doctors treating COVID-19 patients in Sierra Leone went on strike on Thursday over unpaid bonuses, leaving patients in some of the main treatment centers without care, health workers said. The strike marks an escalation in a row between doctors and government over what doctors say is a misuse of funds for the coronavirus response in the small West African country, and a lack of protection and compensation for health workers.

COVID Science

Poor Italians are significantly more likely to die of the coronavirus than higher-income groups, the country’s first significant study into the disease’s disproportionate social impact showed on Friday.

Italy is one of the world’s worst-hit countries with almost 35,000 COVID-19 deaths since its outbreak emerged on Feb. 21 and it was the first European nation to report large-scale infections.

Zydus has received approval from Indian regulators to begin human studies for its COVID-19 vaccine contender, the drugmaker said on Friday, as the novel coronavirus infections continue to surge in the world’s fourth worst-hit nation.

The potential vaccine showed a “strong immune response” in animal studies, and the antibodies produced were able to completely neutralize the wild type virus, Zydus, part of Cadila Healthcare Ltd, said in a statement to Indian stock exchanges.