Coronavirus updates: US reports over 21,000 new cases amid mass protests

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narvikk/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 375,000 people worldwide.

Over 6.2 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some governments are hiding the scope of their nations’ outbreaks.

Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the United States has become the worst-affected country, with more than 1.8 million diagnosed cases and at least 105,147 deaths.

Here’s how the news is developing Tuesday. All times Eastern:

6:49 a.m.: France lifts more coronavirus restrictions

France began its second phase of easing coronavirus restrictions on Tuesday after two months of lockdown, symbolizing the return to what the prime minister called “an almost normal life.”

Cafes and restaurants are allowed to reopen in the country’s so-called green zones, areas where the novel coronavirus is deemed least actively circulating. Parks, gardens and restaurants terraces only can reopen in Paris, now an orange zone, as inside dining rooms must remain closed. France no longer has any red zones, which denoted areas where the virus was actively circulating.

Some Parisians were seen rushing to restaurant terraces as soon as midnight struck.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has released a list of streets that can be closed to traffic to allow bars, cafes and restaurants to expand their seating outdoors.

“In this crisis, Paris needs to support its restaurants and bars,” Hidalgo told French daily newspaper Le Parisien on Sunday. “They are the heart of our city.”

Most schools have now reopened across the country. Movement restrictions have been lifted, with residents permitted to travel 60 miles beyond their homes again. Museums and monuments have also started to reopen from Tuesday.

France began the initial easing of lockdown measures on May 11. The European nation has reported more than 189,000 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 with at least 28,836 deaths, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

6:07 a.m.: Russia reports under 9,000 new cases

Russia’s coronavirus headquarters said Tuesday it had registered 8,863 new cases of COVID-19 and 182 deaths in the last 24 hours.

The country’s tally now stands at 423,741 diagnosed cases with 5,037 deaths. Moscow, the capital, is the hardest-hit city in the country, accounting for about half of all infections.

The latest daily caseload is down from a peak of 11,656 new infections reported on May 11, during which Russia registered over 10,000 new cases per day over a 12-day period. Since then, the daily number of new infections has hovered around 9,000.

Russia has the third-highest number of cases in the world, behind Brazil and the United States, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

5:30 a.m.: Africa’s coronavirus cases surpass 150,000

More than 150,000 people have now been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Africa and over 4,300 of them have died, according to a count kept by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

All 54 African nations have reported COVID-19 cases and around half have detected community transmission of the virus, concentrated mainly in major cities. South Africa has, by far, the highest number of diagnosed cases — more than 34,000 — while Egypt has the largest death toll — over 1,000, according to the Africa CDC.

However, the World Health Organization says Africa remains the least-affected region globally in terms of the number of reported cases and fatalities. The continent of 1.3 billion people has just 1.5% of the world’s reported cases and less than 0.1% of the world’s deaths.

“Of course, these numbers don’t paint the full picture,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing in Geneva last week. “Testing capacity in Africa is still being ramped up and there is a likelihood that some cases may be missed.”

“But even so, Africa appears to have so far been spared the scale of outbreaks we have seen in other regions,” he added. “Africa’s knowledge and experience of suppressing infectious diseases has been critical to rapidly scaling up an agile response to COVID-19.”

3:45 a.m.: US reports over 21,000 new cases amid mass protests

More than 21,000 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 across the United States on Monday, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

The new cases were identified in all 50 states as well as Washington, D.C. and U.S. territories.

By May 20, all states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The slight uptick in infections come as mass protests take place from coast to coast in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died on May 25 in Minneapolis shortly after a white police officer was filmed kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes as three other officers stood by.

The Minneapolis Police Department has since fired all four officers, and the one seen pinning Floyd down, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. However, protesters are calling for the three other officers to be charged and are decrying the overall treatment of black Americans by police.

From May 25 through May 27, the United States reported a daily average of around 18,600 new cases of COVID-19. That number has increased to a daily average of around 22,500 new cases from May 28 through June 1, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The number of people who have taken to the streets in the days since Floyd’s death has been in the thousands, although many have been seen wearing face masks.

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