Coronavirus updates: U.S. cases hit daily record, WHO says controlling Covid may require ‘sacrifice’

Governments have not agreed on how air travel can resume as the global pandemic continues, and that could cost the world trillions of dollars, said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.

Airlines and airports have been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis, with countries shutting their borders in hopes of containing the virus outbreak. Some markets have started to welcome visitors, but with various measures in place.

The coordination of testing, travel protocol and quarantines is the “essential next step to be able to get the world moving again,” Griffiths said.

Asked about the price tag to the global economy if travel stays in limbo, he said: “I think we’re running into tens of trillions of dollars already.” On the other hand, the cost of harmonizing standards is “just tiny” by comparison, he added. — Abigail Ng

Ahead of her latest coronavirus stimulus discussion with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Republicans of effectively giving up on containing Covid-19.

“The Republicans’ continued surrender to the virus – particularly amid the recent wave of cases – is official malfeasance,” Pelosi wrote to House Democrats.

The California Democrat and Treasury secretary have tried to at least strike a relief deal before Election Day on Nov. 3 — though passing a bill within the timeframe appears all but impossible. Despite both sides’ professed desire to reach an agreement, they still need to resolve differences over virus testing, enhanced jobless benefits, aid to states and municipalities and liability protections for businesses.

Washington’s inability to send new aid to Americans comes as the country saw a record high of new daily infections. Pelosi in particular targeted the Trump administration over what she called its reluctance to adopt Democrats’ plan for a national Covid-19 testing strategy. —Jacob Pramuk

The World Health Organization warned that getting the coronavirus pandemic under control may require “sacrifice for many, many people in terms of their personal lives.”

“It may require shutting down and restricting movement and having stay-at-home orders in order to take the heat out of this phase of the pandemic,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said during a press conference. “We’re well behind this virus.”

Outside of the U.S., at least seven countries, four of them in Europe, reported record highs in average daily new cases on Sunday, according to a CNBC analysis of data of Johns Hopkins University. In the U.S., cases are also accelerating. As of Sunday, the U.S. has reported an average of about 68,767 new cases every day, the highest seven-day average recorded yet, according to Hopkins data. –Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu criticized members of Congress over their inability to approve another stimulus package, telling CNBC that he would “fire them all.”

“No one in the Senate or Congress can say that they’ve shown leadership on the Covid crisis. What have they done since March? Like literally nothing,” the Republican said on “Squawk Box.”

Sununu, who is running for reelection against Democrat Dan Feltes, said partisanship has stood in the way of making meaningful progress on the economic fallout from the pandemic.

“Put it this way: Would the country be better or worse off if you replaced all 535 today?” Sununu said, referring to turning over all 435 House seats and the 100 Senate seats. “I think the odds say we’d probably be a little better because you get the political nonsense out of the picture, all of the things that have just clogged the system up so badly.” —Kevin Stankiewicz

The Dow fell more than 800 points, nearly 3%, as the U.S. grapples with rising cases of Covid-19 and relief talks between the White House and Democrats slog on.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each fell more than 2%.

The U.S. is seeing rising numbers of Covid-19 cases, posting highs not seen since the worst of the summer spike.

In recent days, the country set record numbers for average daily coronavirus cases and set a record single-day total on Friday, with 83,757 new cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. —Chris Eudaily

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka announced new restrictions on businesses as the New Jersey city faces a rapidly growing outbreak.

All stores except supermarkets, pharmacies and gas stations will close at 8 p.m. every day under the new restrictions. Restaurants and bars must end indoor service at 8 p.m. and outdoor service at 11 p.m., according to the restrictions. The restrictions say that gyms will have to close for a 30-minute cleaning every hour.

The measures go into effect on Tuesday, the city said.

“Until, and even after, a vaccine is made available to every Newarker, the most potent immunization we will have available is a decision to take personal responsibility to obey and model the recommendations that keep us all safe,” Dr. Mark Wade, Newark’s director of health and community wellness, said in a statement. 

Between Oct. 11 and Oct. 17, 11.8% of all coronavirus tests conducted in the city came back positive, which is as high as that figure was in mid-May, the city said. That positivity rate is more than double the statewide figure of about 5.3%, the city added. —Will Feuer

President Donald Trump tweeted that the U.S. coronavirus outbreak is a “Fake News Media Conspiracy,” even as Covid-19 hospitalizations rise in several states.

Trump has repeatedly downplayed the virus and insisted that the U.S. has more cases than any other country because the nation tests more people. Public health officials and infectious disease experts dispute that claim, however, saying the rate of tests that are positive and hospitalizations are both on the rise in several states.

The overall U.S. positivity rate, or the percentage of Covid-19 tests that come back positive, is at 6.2%, up from around 5.2% last week, according to Johns Hopkins University. Additionally, Covid-19 hospitalizations were growing by 5% or more in 34 states as of Sunday, according to a CNBC analysis of data collected by the Covid Tracking Project. Fifteen states hit record highs in hospitalizations. –Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

The 3-million-square-foot American Dream megamall in New Jersey appears to be off to a strong start since reopening earlier this month, according to new traffic data, with visitors are looking for activities to entertain themselves during the pandemic.

The week of Sept. 28, the mall drew in the fifth-highest amount of visitors since the project’s opening late last year, while the week of Oct. 5 was the second busiest week yet, according to data from the analytics firm Placer.ai. Saturday, Oct. 3, and Saturday, Oct. 10, marked the busiest days ever at American Dream, Placer.ai said.

And the momentum appears to be continuing, it said, with visits on Saturday, Oct. 17, up 17% from the previous high. (Placer.ai has not yet released traffic data for this past weekend, as it is reported on a four-to-five day lag.)

The megamall officially reopened Oct. 1, putting the owner Triple Five Group’s strategy to the ultimate test during the coronavirus pandemic. Everything had been shut down since mid-March, to try to help curb the spread of Covid-19: Ongoing construction was halted; Attractions, like a Nickelodeon Theme Park that opened in the fall and an indoor ski slope that opened during the winter, were closed. Triple Five Group hoped it would be a short delay — just another in a series of setbacks the project has seen over its nearly two-decade-long history. 

A representative from American Dream did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. —Lauren Thomas

U.S. stocks opened lower as coronavirus infections jumped and hope dims for a fiscal stimulus package deal before the election, reports CNBC’s Fred Imbert and Yun Li.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 303 points lower, or more than 1%. The S&P 500 slid 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.8.%. —Melodie Warner 

Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence tested negative for Covid-19 Monday morning, NBC News reports.

Both also tested negative on Saturday and Sunday, according to the vice president’s spokesman Devin O’Malley.

Pence’s office on Sunday said he will not quarantine himself despite several of his aides testing positive for coronavirus. Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short is isolating after testing positive on Saturday. A senior political advisor to the vice president, Marty Obst, and at least three other aides also tested positive, according to NBC News. —Melodie Warner 

The United States has arrived “at a tipping point” in its latest coronavirus surge, but targeted public-health interventions can potentially prevent an even worse outbreak, according to Dr. Scott Gottlieb.

“We’re likely to see a very dense epidemic. I think we’re right now at the cusp of what is going to be exponential spread in parts of the country,” the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Gottlieb said tighter adherence to wearing face masks, along with limits such as curfews on bars, could help slow transmission. He also said people should cut back on the frequency of trips, such as going shopping once per week instead of three times.

“We need to try to pull together and see what we can do to try to control the spread so our health-care systems don’t become overwhelmed. Because once they do, once we reach that breaking point, the policy action that we’re going to need to take is going to be more aggressive, unfortunately, than if we had did some things upfront,” he said. —Kevin Stankiewicz

Disclosure: Dr. Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer, genetic-testing start-up Tempus and biotech company Illumina. He also serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings′ and Royal Caribbean‘s Healthy Sail Panel.

Residents in El Paso, Texas, have been urged to stay home for two weeks after a surge in Covid-19 cases overwhelms hospitals, the Associated Press reported.

To ease stress on hospitals, officials have dedicated part of El Paso’s civic center as a makeshift care center, the AP said.

“We are in a crisis stage,” said El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, the county’s top elected official.

On Sunday night, Samaniego announced a daily curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., with violators facing fines of $500, according to the wire service. —Terri Cullen

The U.S. may be entering a more dangerous period in the coronavirus crisis as the country heads towards the winter season and temperatures fall, said Andy Slavitt, former acting administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

He told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” the number of cases may not be as high as it was in the earlier part of the year, but that the health-care system could be even more overwhelmed this time because workers are already fatigued from months of battling the virus. —Melodie Warner

The United States is now reporting more new cases of the coronavirus, on average, every day than ever before during the pandemic.

With winter and holidays such as Halloween and Thanksgiving approaching, the U.S. has now established its third peak of daily new cases with little sign of letting up. The country reported 60,789 new cases on Sunday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, though cases often drop after the weekend due to under reporting.

Over the past seven days, the country has reported an average of about 68,767 new cases every day, the highest seven-day average recorded yet, according to a CNBC analysis of Hopkins data. The seven-day average is up more than 22% compared with a week ago, according to CNBC’s analysis. —Will Feuer

Hasbro posted better-than-expected quarterly revenue as families who are working and going to school at home amid the pandemic stocked up on board games and toys to keep themselves entertained, Reuters reports.

As colder winter months approach outdoor activities are becoming more limited, driving sales of all of Habro’s gaming brands, including Monopoly, Scrabble and Dungeons & Dragons, according to the wire service. Revenue from the company’s gaming brands surged 21% to about $543 million in the third quarter.

Hasbro’s net revenue rose 12.8% to $1.78 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 27, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.75 billion, according to Refinitiv. —Terri Cullen

British drugmaker AstraZeneca has said its potential Covid-19 vaccine has been shown to produce a similar immune response in both older and younger adults.

The development is likely to boost hopes of a coronavirus vaccine being developed before the end of the year.

“It is encouraging to see immunogenicity responses were similar between older and younger adults and that reactogenicity was lower in older adults, where the Covid-19 disease severity is higher,” an AstraZeneca spokesman told CNBC via email.

“The results further build the body of evidence for the safety and immunogenicity of AZD1222,” the spokesman said, referring to the technical name of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. —Sam Meredith