Axios

NIAID director Anthony Fauci told CNN on Sunday that he did not consent to being featured in a Trump campaign ad, which uses his comments out of context.

Context: The Trump campaign released an ad on Saturday that features a clip of Fauci saying, "I can't imagine that ... anybody could be doing any more." The campaign edited the clip to make it appear as if Fauci was talking about Trump. In reality, Fauci says he made the comments months ago and was speaking broadly about the efforts of federal health officials.

Leonard Schleifer, the founder and CEO of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, said on Sunday that President Trump's successful treatment with the company's antibody cocktail is "the weakest evidence you can get" on whether the drug is a cure.

Driving the news: Since leaving Walter Reed Medical Center on Monday, Trump has repeatedly claimed that he is "immune" from COVID-19 and said he views the antibody cocktail as a "cure."

The Trump administration "definitely missed the window" to mass produce Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' coronavirus antibody drug this year, former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.

Why it matters: President Trump, who received the antibody cocktail after testing positive for the coronavirus, has hailed the drug as a miraculous "cure" — despite a lack of scientific evidence — and promised to distribute it to every hospital for free.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday called on Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett to commit to recusing herself from cases involving the Affordable Care Act and the 2020 election if confirmed.

Why it matters: Barrett wrote in 2017 that Chief Justice John Roberts betrayed the tenets of conservative legal analysis when he upheld the Affordable Care Act. The law will be back before the court in November. Democrats have made it central to their messaging that Barrett will try to invalidate the law if she is confirmed to the court.

The White House refused to allow Anthony Fauci or any of the medical experts on the coronavirus task force to appear on ABC's "This Week," host Jon Karl said Sunday.

Why it matters: President Trump has previously faced criticism for silencing Fauci, and White House officials have refused to answer basic questions about President Trump's COVID test results, as it scrambles to respond to an outbreak within its own ranks.

Eric Trump said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday that his father, President Donald Trump, "got hit hard" by COVID-19 the day his diagnosis was announced.

Details: The younger Trump said his father "sounded 100%" the following day thanks to the medicines he was given at Walter Reed. He also mistakenly said Trump had been given a "vaccine" when in fact the president had taken several experimental therapeutics to help his recovery.

India's Ministry of Health confirmed Sunday another 74,383 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of COVID-19 infections in the country past 7 million.

Why it matters: India is the second country to report that 7 million people have tested positive for the virus after the U.S. — which has over 7.7 million cases, per Johns Hopkins. The country of almost 1.4 billion people is expected to surpass the number of U.S. cases in the coming days.

New Zealand's All Blacks and Australia's Wallabies on Sunday played the first rugby Test since the pandemic saw international fixtures postponed, with some 30,000 fans in attendance.

The big picture: Wallabies captain Michael Hooper said ahead of the game in the coronavirus-free Wellington, New Zealand, that it was a "new era," adding the crowd consisted of "25,000 more than we've been used to, thanks to COVID," per AFP.

President Trump meets "CDC criteria for the safe discontinuation of isolation" and "is no longer considered a transmission risk to others," White House physician Sean Conley said in a memorandum published Saturday.

Of note: The memo does not mention when Trump's last negative coronavirus test was nor whether he's continuing to be treated for COVID-19, but Conley stated that the president has been "fever-free for well over 24 hours and all symptoms improved."

A new study makes the case for more research to understand how bats are connected to emerging infectious diseases.

Why it matters: Bats have been the likely animal reservoir for a number of emerging viruses, including the novel coronavirus. Better understanding the role they play in disease ecology could help us head off the next pandemic.

A startup is developing a genetic test that could identify people at risk of an inflammatory overreaction to COVID-19.

Why it matters: If we can predict who might be in danger of a severe COVID-19 case, we can focus prevention and potentially treatment on those who might need it the most.

The U.S. on Friday reported over 57,000 new coronavirus cases, marking the third consecutive day of more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases nationwide, per data from the COVID Tracking Project.

The state of play: The U.S. is facing another wave of COVID-19 cases as temperatures begin to drop and states continue their gradual reopenings. The pace of coronavirus infections increased last week in 23 states plus Washington, D.C., and only declined in four states and Puerto Rico, Axios' Sam Baker writes.

Early global and national lessons of COVID-19 are already being used to plot a path to preventing the next pandemic.

Why it matters: As hard as it might be to accept, we're no less at risk for another infectious disease pandemic now than we were at the start of COVID-19. Unless we revamp how the international community monitors infectious disease and bolster our national defenses, the next one could be even worse.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) refused to take a COVID-19 test as demanded by his Democratic challenger, Jaime Harrison, forcing organizers of Friday's U.S. Senate debate to change the format at the last minute.

Why it matters: If Graham were to test positive for the virus it could delay confirmation hearings on Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

President Trump said he has been off coronavirus medication for at least eight hours, in his first televised event since his hospitalization for treatment of COVID-19.

Why it matters: Trump claimed on Fox News that he went to Walter Reed Medical Center because he felt tired and denied that he received supplemental oxygen because he had trouble breathing. White House physician Sean Conley said last week that the president received oxygen after his oxygen saturation level dropped below 94%.