Coronavirus hospitalizations are on the rise around the country, Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC Thursday, as states push forward with plans to reopen the economy and mass protests engulf the country. That could become a problem in the fall, when hospitals around the country begin to fill with flu patients. As the two outbreaks coincide, health systems risk becoming strained.
This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks.
- Global cases: More than 6.53 million
- Global deaths: At least 386,392
- U.S. cases: More than 1.85 million
- U.S. deaths: At least 107,175
The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
European Central Bank ups pandemic bond buying
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde addresses a news conference on the outcome of the meeting of the Governing Council in Frankfurt, Germany, January 23, 2020.
Ralph Orlowski | Reuters
8:07 a.m. ET — The European Central Bank announced it will up its bond buying through the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme by 600 billion euros ($672 billion). That’s on top of 750 billion euros in government bonds announced in March.
The central bank will also extend its crisis bond-buying program, previously set to expire at the end of the year, until June 2021. Read more on the ECB’s announcement from CNBC’s Silvia Amaro. —Sara Salinas
Hospitalizations continue to rise, Dr. Scott Gottlieb says
7:00 a.m. ET — Hospitalizations due to the coronavirus are on the rise across the country, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC.
He added that hospitalizations are a “lagging indicator” that represent infections that occurred weeks ago, “but are more objective” than diagnosed cases, which are tied to how much testing is being done.
“In fact, they’re going up,” he said of hospitalizations on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “Arizona hit 1,000 hospitalizations yesterday. Florida hit a high number of hospitalizations. They turned over about 1,400 cases, the highest number since April 17. We’re seeing hospitalizations go up in Tennessee, in Texas, in Georgia, in North Carolina, Minnesota, obviously.”
He added that hospitalizations are increasing in Wisconsin and Ohio as well.
“We’re heading into the fall with a lot of infection in this country,” he said. “That’s going to create risk to the fall and the winter.” —Will Feuer
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer and biotech company Illumina.
UK’s FTSE 100 set for ‘far-reaching’ reshuffle due to virus crisis
Members of media gather at the Diamond Princess cruise ship, operated by Carnival Corp., docked in Yokohama, Japan, on Friday, Feb. 7, 2020.
Toru Hanai | Bloomberg Getty Images
6:56 a.m. ET — Budget airline easyJet and cruise operator Carnival are among the biggest names set to drop out of Britain’s blue chip FTSE 100 index, with worldwide shutdowns necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic ravaging travel stocks.
Following a quarterly review by index provider FTSE Russell, British Gas owner Centrica and engineering firm Meggitt will also be relegated to the FTSE 250, in a reshuffle one expert called “one of the most far-reaching” in the index’s history.
The four vacant spots will be taken by gambling company GVC Holdings, computer software firm Avast, emergency repairs provider Homeserve and multinational retailer Kingfisher. —Elliot Smith
Read CNBC’s previous coronavirus live coverage here: LVMH says Tiffany deal being looked at; Mexico’s daily deaths exceed U.S.′