AUSTIN, Texas — Texas has reported its biggest daily increase in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases — 8,258. Hospitalizations also continue to climb.

Much of Texas began mandating face coverings Friday on the orders of Gov. Greg Abbott. The mask order carries a $250 fine. The order is the most dramatic about-face that Abbott has made as he retreats from what stood out as one of America’s swiftest reopenings.

Texas health officials on Saturday said the state’s total number of confirmed coronavirus cases is now at 191,790. State health officials also reported 33 additional deaths linked to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. That brings Texas’ total to 2,608 deaths. Hospitalizations stood at 7,890 on Saturday, an increase of 238 from Friday.

WHO ends trial on hydroxycloroquine

BERLIN — The World Health Organization says it is ending a trial into whether anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine helps patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

WHO said Saturday it has “accepted the recommendation” from the committee overseeing the trial to discontinue testing of hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir, a drug combination used to treat HIV/AIDS. The drugs were being compared with standard care for hospitalized patients.

WHO says a review of the interim results showed hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir “produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients when compared to standard of care.”

The agency adds that while there was no “solid evidence” of increased mortality for hospitalized patients given the drugs, there were “some associated safety signals in the clinical laboratory findings” of an associated trial.

WHO says the decision won’t affect possible trials on patients who aren’t hospitalized, or on those receiving the drugs before potential exposure to the coronavirus or shortly afterward.

Florida has record number of new virus cases

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida — The Fourth of July holiday weekend began Saturday with some sobering numbers in the Sunshine State: Florida logged a record number of people testing positive for the coronavirus.

State health officials reported 11,445 new cases, a single-day record since the pandemic began earlier this year. The latest count brings the total number of cases in the state to more than 190,000. A website maintained by the Department of Health shows an additional 245 hospitalizations from the outbreak.

Local officials and health experts are worried that people will gather over the holiday weekend and spread the virus through close contact. They’ve tried to mitigate spread by shutting bars statewide. Some regional attractions, such as Zoo Miami and Jungle Island, have closed. Universal Studios in Orlando is open.

Mayor Carlos Gimenez closed Miami-Dade County beaches through the weekend. Municipalities elsewhere in South Florida, from Vero Beach to Broward County, did the same. Beaches in the Florida Keys are also closed. Public beaches along Pinellas County’s 35 miles of sand are open.

Coronavirus deaths overwhelm city in Bolivia

LA PAZ, Bolivia — The rising toll of COVID-19 deaths is overwhelming the Bolivian city of Cochabamba, where desperate relatives of one apparent victim of the new coronavirus left his coffin in the street for several hours on Saturday to protest difficulties in getting him buried.

Neighbor Remberto Arnez said the 62-year-old man had died on June 28 and his body had been in his home ever since, “but that’s risky because of the possible contagion.”

After a few hours, funeral workers showed up and took the coffin to a cemetery.

Police Col. Iván Rojas told a news conference that the city is collecting “about 17 bodies a day. This is collapsing the police personnel and funeral workers” in the city of some 630,000 people.

The Andean nation has reported more than 36,800 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,320 deaths.

Cases rise in Italy for fifth straight day

ROME — For a fifth straight day, the number of Italy’s daily new coronavirus cases increased.

The Health Ministry on Saturday said 235 new cases of confirmed coronavirus infections were registered since the previous day. Overall, Italy’s known number of coronavirus cases stands at more than 241,400, although authorities say many infections of those with mild or no symptoms likely went undetected.

Saturday saw a sharp jump in day-to-day number of infections – 27 to 51 — in the northern Emilia-Romagna region, whose beach towns are attracting vacationers.

The Lazio region, which includes Rome, also registered a steep rise in confirmed infections, 31, compared to 11 new cases a day earlier. The city has been trying to discourage groups of young people from mingling outdoors on summer nights to drink without keeping a safe distance apart despite not wearing masks.

There were 21 deaths registered nationwide, raising the known death toll in the pandemic to 34,854.

Girlfriend of Trump’s son tests positive before event at Mount Rushmore

Kimberly Guilfoyle, a Trump campaign fundraiser who is dating Donald Trump Jr., tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, before the president’s Independence Day celebration Friday night at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, a person familiar with the situation said.

Guilfoyle had not arrived at the event and was not in contact with President Trump, and Donald Jr. tested negative, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss their personal situation. Guilfoyle and Don Jr. were not seen in television footage of the president joined by aides, son Eric and daughter Tiffany, and they are planning to drive back to Washington to avoid contact with others, the person said.

The New York Times first reported Guilfoyle’s positive test Friday evening.

The news came amid concerns from medical experts about the president’s event before a crowd of several thousand supporters, most not wearing masks and seated close together, at the foot of the famous monument featuring the images of four U.S. president carved into granite. Some experts cautioned that the event could present conditions in which the coronavirus could spread, although it was taking place outdoors, where risks are mitigated to a degree.

Trump hoped the official event that plays to themes of patriotism at a time he has denounced protesters for racial justice who have defaced and torn down statues of historical figures, including some Confederate leaders and former U.S. presidents, would bolster his flagging public approval ratings.

Yet the news of Guilfoyle’s positive test could set back his efforts. The president’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., two weeks ago, the first after a months-long hiatus amid widespread coronavirus shutdowns, was marred when several campaign staffers and Secret Service agents contracted COVID-19.

Read the full story here.

Alabama health officials can’t verify reports of ‘COVID party’

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Alabama Department of Public Health said it could not verify reports of so-called COVID-19 parties where students deliberately tried to become infected, but also warned people not to try it.

Tuscaloosa City Councilor Sonya McKinstry told news outlets this week that she heard of students holding parties and wagering over who would become infected.

The department said it could not verify any parties where persons tried to contract COVID-19 but warned that it is a dangerous and sometimes deadly virus.

“Persons should not willfully expose themselves to this virus both for their own health and the health of others,” the department said.

Tuscaloosa Fire Chief Randy Smith told the City Council on Tuesday that fire officials confirmed some students had attended parties despite knowing they were infected. The department thought the parties were rumors, but Smith said after some research, officials discovered they were real.

The Department of Public Health said people with COVID-19 are to remain in home quarantine and could be fined for violating quarantine.

Administration misses deadline to disclose Paycheck Protection Program loan data

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department and Small Businesses Administration appear unlikely to release information on hundreds of thousands of Paycheck Protection Program loans this week as planned, a setback in the Trump administration’s promises to be transparent about one of the largest economic stimulus packages ever created by the federal government.

After offering contradictory statements on how much information they would release about more than 4.8 million forgivable loans issued from the $660 billion program, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza announced last week that they would release the names of borrowers who received at least $150,000 in funds before the holiday weekend.

But as of Friday afternoon – a government holiday – the Treasury Department and SBA did not indicate any plans to release the data. Congressional aides, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief the press, said they don’t expect the data to be released before Monday.

It wasn’t clear what was causing the delay. Representatives for the Treasury Department and SBA did not return requests for comment Friday on the reason for the delay.

Although the data to be released only comprises about 15 percent of the total number of loans – though much more of the dollar value – it would be the largest disclosure yet for a program that suffered from a rocky start but which economists credit with helping limit job losses. The unemployment rate reported Friday was 11.1 percent, down from the 14.7 percent reported for April.

At a June 30 House Financial Services Committee hearing, Mnuchin said that the Treasury Department and SBA would release the data by the end of this week. His statement confirmed the time frame that he and Carranza had laid out in an earlier letter to committee chair Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y.

Read the full story about transparency issues in the Paycheck Protection Program here.

Judge rules that Hawaii’s quarantine is reasonable during pandemic

HONOLULU — A U.S. judge will not stop Hawaii from enforcing a quarantine on arriving travelers, saying in a ruling that the emergency mandate is reasonable during the public health crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

A group of Hawaii, California and Nevada residents tried to stop the quarantine by filing a lawsuit alleging it is unfair and unnecessary. It violates the fundamental right to travel freely, they argued.

The quarantine mandate, which applies to out-of-state travelers and Hawaii residents, doesn’t prevent people from traveling and the plaintiffs “have elected not to travel — whether to or from Hawaii — because they do no want to be quarantined,” U.S. District Judge Jill Otake said in a ruling issued Thursday night denying a request for a temporary restraining order.

An attorney representing the people challenging the quarantine didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. A spokesman for the Hawaii attorney general’s office also didn’t immediately comment.

Hawaii “imposed the quarantine to prevent the importation and spread of COVID-19 and to avoid overwhelming the health care system, which are compelling state interests,” Otake said.

As of Thursday, Hawaii’s health department reported a total of 946 confirmed cases and 18 deaths since the outbreak began. The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.

Hawaii has been able to keep infection rates low because of emergency restrictions, state Attorney General Clare Connors told Otake at a hearing Thursday.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some — especially older adults and people with existing health problems — it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

Harmeet Dhillon, representing the group who filed the lawsuit, said it’s not known if low rates can be attributed to the quarantine and that the state could have enacted less restrictive measures sooner.

Gov. David Ige has announced that starting Aug. 1, travelers will be able to bypass the quarantine if they test negative prior to arriving. Ige has yet to announce full details, but said the testing plan is similar to one in Alaska.

“Although the right to travel within the United States is constitutionally protected, that does not mean that a temporary quarantine cannot be instituted in certain areas when evidence shows that unlimited travel there would directly and materially interfere with the safety and welfare of that area,” Otake said.

Major League Baseball cancels All-Star Game for first time since 1945

LOS ANGELES  — Dodger Stadium’s 40-year wait to host the All-Star Game is going to last even longer.

The game scheduled for July 14 was canceled Friday because of the coronavirus pandemic, and Dodger Stadium was awarded the 2022 Midsummer Classic. The 2021 game is set for Atlanta’s Truist Park, home to the Braves since 2017.

Because of the pandemic, opening day had already been delayed from March 26 to July 23 or 24.

“Once it became clear we were unable to hold this year’s All-Star festivities, we wanted to award the Dodgers with the next available All-Star Game, which is 2022,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.

This will be the first time since 1945 that no game will be held. Travel restrictions because of World War II kept the game scheduled for Boston’s Fenway Park and any player selections from taking place that year. It was pushed back to the next season.

The Dodgers hosted the only the Mid-Summer Classic in Dodger Stadium history in 1980, won 4-2 by the National League.

Greece records 25 new cases

ATHENS, Greece — Greek authorities announced Saturday that there were 25 new confirmed coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, but no fatalities.

Eight of the 25 new cases involved incoming tourists, who are tested when they arrive in the country, authorities said.

The number of confirmed cases rose to more than 3,500, while fatalities remained at 192.

Eleven patients are on ventilators, while 119 have exited intensive care units.

France sending medics to South American territory

PARIS — France is sending medics to its South American territory of French Guiana to help treat growing numbers of coronavirus patients in a region where half the population lives below the French poverty level.

While the virus spread stabilized more than two months ago in mainland France, infections started surging in French Guiana more recently as the coronavirus swept South America, and especially neighboring Brazil. Based on this “worrying” trend, the French national health agency said Friday night that medical staff reinforcements will be sent in the coming days.

The military has already stepped in to fly patients from saturated facilities in French Guiana to the French Caribbean island of Martinique for treatment.

Of the roughly 5,000 new cases confirmed across France over the past week, 1,400 of them were in French Guiana, with a population of just 300,000, according to the health agency. About a quarter of virus tests in French Guiana have been positive in recent weeks.

Nationwide, France has reported 310 new virus clusters since it started reopening in early May. France has reported the fifth-highest number of virus deaths worldwide, a total of 29,893, about half of them in nursing homes.

India records highest single-day spike

NEW DELHI — India on Saturday recorded its highest single-day spike in new coronavirus cases, with 22,771 people testing positive in the last 24 hours.

India has now confirmed 648,315 cases — fourth in the world behind the U.S., Brazil and Russia. It also has reported 18,655 deaths from the virus.

Of the 442 deaths in the last 24 hours, 198 were in Maharashtra state.

Merkel pays tribute to German elderly

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has paid tribute to the elderly, who she said have faced particular hardship and loneliness in recent months because of the restrictions imposed to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

In her weekly video address Saturday, Merkel thanked older Germans for accepting the necessary limits on social contacts, saying that “the most painful thing was surely not to be able to see children and grandchildren for many weeks.”

Like elsewhere, the elderly have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic in Germany, with numerous deadly outbreaks occurring in nursing homes.

Germany, which has so far recorded over 190,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 9,010 deaths, has started testing asymptomatic people in care homes in an effort to detect any new outbreaks before they spread.

Merkel urged Germans to help protect the elderly by respecting distancing rules in public.

Spanish authorities order county quarantined

LLEIDA, Spain — Authorities in northeast Spain have ordered the confinement of a county around the city of Lleida due to worrying outbreaks of the coronavirus.

Catalan regional authorities announced Saturday that as of noon local time movement will be restricted to and from the country of El Segriá around Lleida, which is home to over 200,000 people. Residents will have until 4 p.m. local to enter the area.

Regional health authorities said Friday that they had registered a jump of 60 cases in 24 hours, taking the total number of infections to over 4,000 in the county.

The new outbreaks are linked to agricultural workers in the rural area.

Spain was completely locked down for over three months to get its coronavirus outbreak under control before its national government ended a state of emergency last month. Over 28,000 people are confirmed to have died from the virus in Spain.

Russia’s death toll rises past 10,000

MOSCOW — Russia’s death toll from the coronavirus has risen above 10,000.

The national coronavirus task force on Saturday reported 168 COVID-19 deaths over the past day, bringing the national total to 10,027. It also tallied 6,632 new infections, raising the total to 674,515.

Russia’s caseload is the world’s third-largest, behind the United States and Brazil, but its reported deaths are lower than many other countries. Russian officials have denied speculation that the figures are being manipulated.

Australian state records 108 new infections

MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia’s Victoria state recorded 108 new coronavirus cases Saturday, forcing authorities to lock down nine public housing towers and three more Melbourne suburbs.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said 3,000 people in the housing towers would go into “hard lockdown,” meaning “there will be no one allowed in … and no one allowed out.”

Residents in the Flemington and Kensington housing units will receive deliveries of food and medicine, along with alcohol support.

The suburbs of Kensington, Flemington and North Melbourne will join 36 others in being subject to stage 3 coronavirus restrictions. Residents can only leave their homes for food or essential supplies, medical care or care-giving, exercise or for work or education.

After a recent flareup, Victoria has 509 active cases of COVID-19 with 25 people hospitalized, including three in intensive care.

South Africa records another daily record of cases

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa has announced another record daily number of confirmed coronavirus cases with 9,064, as Africa’s most developed country shows signs of strain in coping with the pandemic.

Thirty percent of South Africa’s more than 177,000 cases are now in Gauteng province, which contains Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria.

More than 2,900 people in the country have died. The African continent overall has more than 433,000 confirmed virus cases.

WHO official warns the fight is now

GENEVA — The World Health Organization’s emergencies chief says “we need to put up a fight now” during a peak in the current wave of the coronavirus pandemic — rather than focusing on when a second wave might come.

Dr. Michael Ryan said the world will be much better at fighting a second wave, if people can learn the lessons of fighting the first wave.

WHO officials emphasized mask-wearing, social distancing, and hygiene by individuals, along with contact-tracing and tracking of cases by health authorities as key strategies to fight the virus. They say governments and individuals should contour their policies and behavior based on the outbreak’s status in their countries.

Ryan said the world was experiencing a “second peak in the first wave” — a situation in which the virus hasn’t been suppressed enough to quell transmission to end the first one.

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