Health

Watch live: Coronavirus task force holds briefing as outbreak eases in some hard-hit areas


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Members of the coronavirus task force are expected to hold a press briefing Tuesday amid signs that the curve is flattening in some hard-hit areas.

For weeks, government officials across the federal, state and local levels have been responding to the outbreak, issuing financial aid and guidance on dealing with the spread.

The first wave of stimulus relief checks were deposited into some Americans’ bank accounts over the weekend, according to the IRS. Millions more can expect to receive theirs in the coming weeks as part of the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill passed to aid Americans suffering financially as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Social distancing efforts are apparently paying off in New York, which has the most confirmed cases in the country. The number of coronavirus deaths in the state have begun to level off.

Still, some form of social distancing is likely to remain in place until a vaccine is available. Johnson & Johnson is aiming to produce between 600 million and 900 million doses of its potential coronavirus vaccine by the end of the first quarter of 2021 if human trials scheduled to begin in September go as planned. The company plans to make 1 billion doses or more annually, J&J executives told investors during a post-earnings conference call on Tuesday.

Task force members include Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Vice President Mike Pence; Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar; Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, among others.

The outbreak has spread to dozens of countries globally, with more than 1.9 million confirmed cases worldwide and over 120,449 deaths so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. There are at least 582,500 cases in the United States and at least 23,649 deaths, according to the latest tallies.

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