Axios

The Italian government reported 300 new cases of coronavirus on Monday, the lowest daily increase since Feb. 29.

Why it matters: Italy, the first country in Europe to implement a nationwide lockdown after emerging as a hotspot in March, appears to have finally weathered its coronavirus outbreak. Italy has reported nearly 33,000 total deaths, the third-highest total behind the U.S. and U.K.

Charitable organizations around the U.S. are launching funds or redirecting their everyday efforts to address the needs of people affected by the coronavirus shutdown.

Driving the news: The pandemic has upended lives, with more than 25 million workers on the unemployment rolls. 1.7 million workers were collecting unemployment benefits before U.S. businesses began closing down to stop the spread of the virus.

The World Health Organization is temporarily pausing tests of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment in order to review safety concerns, the agency's director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday.

Why it matters: The decision comes after a retrospective review published in The Lancet found that coronavirus patients who took hydroxychloroquine or its related drug chloroquine were more likely to die or develop an irregular heart rhythm that can lead to sudden cardiac death, compared to those who did nothing.

Dominic Cummings, the top aide to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, defended himself at a press conference Monday against allegations that he broke the U.K.'s coronavirus lockdown rules by traveling to his parents' home last month while exhibiting symptoms.

What he said: "I respectfully disagree. The legal rules do not necessarily cover all circumstances, especially the ones I found myself in," Cummings told the assembled press.

Transition Lab, a new podcast hosted by David Marchick, director of the Partnership for Public Service's Center for Presidential Transition, has recorded episodes about the transitions of Presidents Carter, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama and Trump.

The state of play: Filmmaker Ken Burns and historian Geoffrey Ward, who have collaborated since 1984 on documentaries that include "The Civil War" and "The Roosevelts," shared stories about leadership in crisis. Burns called the coronavirus pandemic "as great a crisis as we've had."

Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic are among the many airlines opting to transition to hauling cargo — sometimes in empty passenger cabins — after the coronavirus pandemic gutted demand, the New York Times reports.

Why it matters: It's another example of how the pandemic is changing the economics of the airline industry, which has been transporting medical equipment around the word to battle the coronavirus — as well as more traditional items like mail, seafood and smartphones.

President Trump accused Democrats of trying to Rig" November's elections as Republican groups filed a lawsuit against California Sunday in an attempt to stop Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) from mailing ballots to all registered voters.

Driving the news: Newsom signed an executive order this month in response to the coronavirus pandemic to make sure all registered voters in the state receive a mail-in ballot.

The White House announced that beginning at 11:59 pm ET on Thursday, President Trump would suspend entry of non-U.S. citizens who have been in Brazil in the past 14 days in an effort to stop the imported spread of the coronavirus.

Why it matters: Brazil has reported nearly 350,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus — the second-most in the world behind the U.S. — and has emerged as a Southern Hemisphere hotspot as other heavily affected countries in Asia and Europe have managed to get their outbreaks under control.

President Trump attacked estimates from a Columbia University study on Sunday that projected at least 36,000 American lives could have been saved if lockdowns and social distancing were imposed just one week earlier.

What he's saying: Trump told Full Measure, a show broadcast by Sinclair, "It's a disgrace what I watch from this fake news media and from some of these liberal institutions. Columbia is a liberal, disgraceful institution to write that because all the people that they cater to were months after me, they said we shouldn't close it."

White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday that social distancing is "absolutely critical" and that if Americans can't maintain at least 6 feet from other people while gathering outside, they "must wear a mask."

Why it matters: As states have begun to reopen, many Americans have flocked to beaches and outdoor restaurants in large numbers to celebrate Memorial Day weekend. Birx warned that people could be spreading the virus unknowingly, and she asked those with comorbidities to remain sheltered in place.

The stark front page of today's New York Times, plus three inside pages, consist of two-line obituaries ("Always first on the dance floor. ... Preferred bolo ties and suspenders") for 1,000 of the nearly 100,000 Americans who have died of the coronavirus — 1% of the toll.

The big picture: A huge team at The Times drew the accounts "from hundreds of obituaries, news articles and paid death notices that have appeared in newspapers and digital media over the past few months."