Francisco Duran, head of epidemiology at the Ministry of Public Health, and who has updated the country daily on the pandemic, took off his mask during the national broadcast for only the second time deliver the good news.

Duran, on Saturday did the same, reporting just a single domestic case in Havana.

Only a handful of COVID-19 cases were reported in Cuba over the last week, all in Havana. Most of the Caribbean island, home to 11.2 million inhabitants, has been free of the disease for more than a month.

Source: Cubans celebrate no local transmission of COVID-19 for first time in four months – Reuters

Positive COVID-19 cases caused an agglutination or a clustering of red blood cells, which was easily identifiable to the naked eye. Researchers were able to retrieve positive or negative readings in about 20 minutes. While the current swab / PCR tests are used to identify people who are currently positive with COVID-19, the agglutination assay can determine whether someone had been recently infected once the infection is resolved – and could potentially be used to detect antibodies raised in response to vaccination to aid clinical trials. Using a simple lab setup, this discovery could see medical practitioners across the world testing up to 200 blood samples an hour. At some hospitals with high-grade diagnostic machines, more than 700 blood samples could be tested hourly – about 16,800 each day. Study findings could help high-risk countries with population screening, case identification, contact tracing, confirming vaccine efficacy during clinical trials, and vaccine distribution.

Source: Breakthrough blood test detects positive COVID-19 result in 20 minutes – Monash University

It is past time for Gov. Ron DeSantis to ground himself in some hard realities and admit that the economy will not revive until we greatly slow the zooming spread of this too-often-deadly disease.

On Sunday, Florida recorded a chilling national record: more than 15,300 new COVID-19 cases in a single day. If Florida were a country, it would rank fourth in the world in this appalling category. Our new peers: the United States, Brazil and India.

This is a leadership failure of mammoth proportions, a failure that will contribute to long-term illness and death for many of the citizens that a governor is supposed to protect. No wonder that a hashtag is trending: #DeSantisResign. We’d prefer “DeSantisStepUp.

In some other states where the virus is raging at unprecedented rates — California, Arizona, even the GOP stronghold of Texas — governors are starting to roll back the reopenings that, it is clear now, placed too much faith in people’s common sense to wear the masks and keep the six-foot distances needed to contain the virus’ spread.

But DeSantis? As of this writing, on Thursday, not a hint of how he intends to curb the contagion.

Source: Coronavirus Florida: Editorial: In the worst public health crisis in generations, DeSantis is a massive fail – Opinion – The Palm Beach Post – West Palm Beach, FL

Penn Live reports: Despite assurances they would not appear, approximately 15 members of National Socialist Movement (NSM), many of them armed, rallied in Williamsport’s Brandon Park Saturday afternoon. The NSM members following a short march through the park stopped on the Elizabeth Street side where with the aid of a battery-powered megaphone they spewed their …

Source: Armed Nazis March In Pennsylvania Park, Chant “Fuck The Gays,” Call Local Black Mayor The N-Word [VIDEO] – Joe.My.God.

465 people were infected with coronavirus in the Palestinian Authority (PA) territory in the past 24 hours, totaling 6,566 active patients and 63 deceased in the West Bank since the coronavirus pandemic broke out, according to data released by the PA health organizations and reported by Walla.

Source: Palestinian Authority announces alarming coronavirus infection rates in the West Bank – The Jerusalem Post

In L.A. County, Pacific Islanders suffer the highest infection rate of any racial or ethnic group, more than 2,500 per 100,000 residents. That’s six times higher than for white people, five times higher than for Black people and three times higher than for Latinos, according to county health demographic data that exclude Long Beach and Pasadena, which have their own health departments.

Source: Pacific Islanders hit hard by the coronavirus – Los Angeles Times

The man’s father, John Place, 42, is now fighting the virus at a hospital’s intensive care unit. The illness’s spread among members of the Plantation, Fla., family highlights the outcome dreaded by authorities who feared the recent surge of cases hitting younger Floridians would spread to older, more vulnerable people.

Source: Florida teen met friends against family’s wishes. Now dad has COVID-19, fighting for his life – National | Globalnews.ca

“It’s just a small step back to remind people we’re still in a pandemic,” a bouncer, who declined to give his name, told us Saturday night after the order was issued. “We’re all eager to get back to the way things were before and sometimes we get a little bit ahead of ourselves, and that’s all it was.”

Patrons were required to leave after the street seating was shut down at the location Saturday night.

Outside of the bar, Mike, who held a to-go cocktail in a plastic container, said, “It’s a business, they gotta run their shit. I think it’s kinda unfair.”

“We just wanted to have a nice dinner, a girl’s night out,” said Tatiana Soriano, 19, of Forest Hills. “We Uber’d here and were expecting that.”

Soriano added: “I just feel like our lives can’t stop because of this, so it’s nice that they’re slowly reopening.”

Source: Astoria Lounge Suspended From Coronavirus Open Restaurants Program After Crowds Party In The Street – Gothamist