Editor’s note: The WHO clarified the comments it made, as reported below, saying that asymptomatic carriers do take part in spreading the coronavirus. Read more here.
Contact tracing data from around the globe suggests that while there are instances of asymptomatic coronavirus patients transmitting the virus to others, they are not "a main driver" of new infections, World Health Organization officials said at a press conference Monday.
Why it matters: Evidence early on suggested that person-to-person transmission among people who didn't experience symptoms could lead to outbreaks that would be difficult to control. Young people and healthy people who did not experience symptoms were also suspected to be potential carriers to more vulnerable populations.
The U.S. economy peaked in February before sliding into a recession as the coronavirus pandemic hit, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, a group that’s considered the official determiners of when recessions begin and end.
Why it matters: There was no doubt the U.S. was in the midst of a recession, given the shelter-in-place measures that brought economic activity to a near halt and caused millions of layoffs — but this is the group's fastest call yet, as it's sometimes taken as long as a year to make such calls in the past.
AstraZeneca approached Gilead Sciences last month about a possible merger, although the two companies aren't currently in formal talks, as first reported by Bloomberg.
Why it matters: This still feels highly unlikely but, if consummated, would be the largest health care merger in history. AstraZeneca has a current market cap of around $140 billion, while Gilead's is $96 billion. It also could portend a rash of pharma deal-talk ahead of treatments or vaccines for COVID-19.
American Airlines is looking to pack more passengers onto flights in the coming months and unlike many peers has not instituted a seating cap to enforce social distancing.
Why it matters: That drive for more ticket sales at the possible expense of customer safety may be what's helping its stock outperform other major airlines that have put policies in place.
Low-income, majority-black neighborhoods in D.C. are getting hit hardest by the coronavirus — a reflection of racial and socioeconomic trends that have sparked mass protests only miles from these neighborhoods.
The big picture: The virus's racial disparities around the country are a result of other longstanding inequities in health, housing, employment, income and other aspects of society.
There are no known novel coronavirus cases in New Zealand for the first time since COVID-19 arrived in the country on Feb. 28.
Details: Following confirmation that the country's last remaining case had recovered, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Monday that all remaining domestic restrictions would be lifted at midnight local time. However, the border will remain closed to all but returning Kiwis.
Doctors Without Borders has again dispatched teams to the U.S., this time to help overstretched local authorities and charities deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
Why it matters: The humanitarian medical group usually works in conflict zones and impoverished countries affected by endemic disease. But some 50 of its staff are working in the U.S. to ease the stress COVID-19 has put on already underserved communities in New York, Florida, New Mexico, the Navajo Nation and Puerto Rico, spokesperson Nico D'Auterive said.
Brazil's Health Ministry is no longer showing a total count of confirmed novel coronavirus cases on its website, as infection numbers surge along with the death toll, Reuters first reported.
The big picture: Brazil has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world and the third-highest death rate. 672,800 Brazilians had tested positive for the virus and the number of deaths exceeded 35,900 on Sunday morning, per Johns Hopkins. President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted Saturday that the "cumulative data ... does not reflect the moment the country is in. Other actions are underway to improve the reporting of cases and confirmation of diagnoses."
