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Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic updates

The latest news and commentary on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Recent Stories

People have lunch together at the Newton Food Center Friday, June 19, 2020, in Singapore. Singaporeans can wine and dine at restaurants, work out at the gym and get together but no more than five people after most lockdown restrictions were lifted Friday. (AP Photo/YK Chan)

Singapore opens gyms, dining out as China outbreak steadies

By Royston Chan and Elaine Kurtenbach - Associated Press

Singaporeans can wine and dine at restaurants, work out at the gym and socialize with no more than five people at a time as of Friday, when the city-state removed most of its pandemic lockdown restrictions.

In this June 6, 2020, file photo, demonstrators protest near the White House in Washington over the death of George Floyd, a black man who was in police custody in Minneapolis. In just about any other year, Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the day in 1865 that all enslaved black people learned they had been freed from bondage, would be marked with a cookout, a parade, or a community festival. But Juneteenth 2020 will be a day of protest in many places, Friday, June 19. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Juneteenth: A day of joy and pain -- and now national action

By Aaron Morrison and Kat Stafford - Associated Press

In just about any other year, Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the day in 1865 that all enslaved black people learned they had been freed from bondage, would be marked by African American families across the nation with a cookout, a parade, a community festival, a soulful rendition of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing."

In this June 16, 2020, file photo, signs remind patrons to wear masks and other protocols because of the coronavirus pandemic as they stroll through the Disney Springs shopping, dining and entertainment complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The number of deaths per day from the coronavirus in the U.S. has fallen in recent weeks to the lowest level since late March, even as states increasingly reopen for business. But scientists are deeply afraid the trend may be about to reverse itself. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

Decline in new U.S. virus deaths may be temporary reprieve

By Carla K. Johnson and Nicky Forster - Associated Press

The number of deaths per day from the coronavirus in the U.S. has fallen in recent weeks to the lowest level since late March, even as states increasingly reopen for business. But scientists are deeply afraid the trend may be about to reverse itself.

A lab technician works during research on coronavirus, COVID-19, at Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutical in Beerse, Belgium, Wednesday, June 17, 2020. Janssen Pharmaceutical hopes to begin clinical trials on a potential vaccine for COVID-19 in the middle of the summer. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Race for coronavirus vaccine could leave some countries behind

By Maria Cheng and Christina Larson - Associated Press

As the race intensified for a vaccine against the new coronavirus, rich countries are rushing to place advance orders for the inevitably limited supply to guarantee their citizens get immunized first - leaving significant questions about whether developing countries will get any vaccines in time to save lives before the pandemic ends.

In this Tuesday, June 16, 2020, photo, nurses tend to COVID-19 patients at the Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital in Tehran, Iran. After months of fighting the coronavirus, Iran only just saw its highest single-day spike in reported cases after Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that celebrates the end of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Months into virus, biggest one-day case spike worries Iran

By Nasser Karimi - Associated Press

Months into Iran's fight against the coronavirus, doctors and nurses at Tehran's Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital still don a mask, a disposable hazmat suit and a double layer of latex gloves every day to attempt to contain a pandemic that shows no signs of slowing.

Chinese police officers wearing masks shelter in the shade near a portrait of Mao Zedong on Tiananmen Gate in Beijing Tuesday, June 16, 2020. Chinese authorities locked down a third neighborhood in Beijing on Tuesday as they rushed to prevent the spread of a new coronavirus outbreak that has infected more than 100 people in a country that appeared to have largely contained the virus. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Beijing's new coronavirus outbreak raises fears for rest of the world

By Ken Moritsugu, David Rising and Rod McGuirk - Associated Press

China raised its emergency warning to its second highest level and canceled more than 60% of the flights to Beijing on Wednesday amid a new coronavirus outbreak in the capital - a sharp pullback for the nation that declared victory over the virus in March and a warning for the rest of the world about how tenacious this virus really is.

In this May 7, 2020, file photo, a woman sitting on a stoop reading a book in the sun is seen reflected by a closed clothing store's window on West Broadway in the SoHo neighborhood of the Manhattan borough in New York. U.S. retail sales likely recovered somewhat in May as the economy increasingly reopened from closures caused by the coronavirus and more shoppers felt confident enough to spend. The Commerce Department is expected to report Tuesday, June 16, 2020, that retail purchases climbed 9% from April to May, according to economists surveyed by the data provider FactSet. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, file)

U.S. retail sales up a record 17.7% in a partial rebound

By Josh Boak and Anne D'Innocenzio - Associated Press

U.S. retail sales jumped by a record 17.7% from April to May, with spending partially rebounding after the coronavirus had shut down businesses, flattened the economy and paralyzed consumers during the previous two months.

People walk through Universal CityWalk near Universal City, Calif. The tourist attraction, which had been closed due to the coronavirus outbreak recently re-opened. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)

Spike in coronavirus cases forces leaders to halt reopenings

By Tom Howell Jr. - The Washington Times

COVID-19 cases and hospital visits are spiking in cities and towns from coast to coast, especially in the South and West, throwing sand in the gears of America's grand reopening and prompting frustrated governors to extend lockdowns or threaten penalties amid President Trump's "transition to greatness."

In this May 18, 2020, file photo, Belvin Jefferson White poses with a portrait of her father Saymon Jefferson at Saymon's home in Baton Rouge, La. Belvin recently lost both her father and her uncle, Willie Lee Jefferson, to COVID-19. African Americans are disproportionately likely to say a family member or close friend has died of COVID-19 or respiratory illness since March, according to a series of surveys conducted since April that lays bare how black Americans have borne the brunt of the pandemic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Black Americans most likely to know a COVID-19 victim: Poll

By Kat Stafford and Hannah Fingerhut - Associated Press

African Americans are disproportionately likely to say a family member or close friend has died of COVID-19 or respiratory illness since March, according to a series of surveys conducted since April that lays bare how black Americans have borne the brunt of the pandemic.

Recent Commentary Columns

In this May 5, 2019, file photo, Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, speaks following the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

COVID-19 great for growing billionaire pockets

By Cheryl K. Chumley - The Washington Times

Thanks to COVID-19 shutdowns, America's middle class may be suffering -- American small business owners may be gasping for last breaths, limping on their last legs -- but the billionaire class is making out like a bandit.

Illustration on the right to worship by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

Stop discriminating against churchgoers

By Brian Burch

It is imperative that our leaders stop discriminating against those who wish to gather for worship. Churchgoers are entitled to the same constitutional protections that peaceful protesters currently enjoy.