August 8 coronavirus news

An additional 1,601 cases of Covid-19 were recorded in Japan Friday, the country's Ministry of Health said -- the highest number Japan has seen in a single day.

It's the fourth consecutive day Japan has identified more than 1,000 cases. To date, authorities have identified 46,151 cases of Covid-19 and 1,062 virus-related fatalities.

Tokyo is among the hardest-hit cities. Authorities said 462 cases were identified in the Japanese capital Friday, while Osaka posted its own daily high of 255 cases. 

The governors of prefectures where cases are on the rise have asked citizens to avoid travel during Obon summer vacation season, which starts this weekend.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that he did not intend to bring back the state of emergency immediately, as the situation was not as threatening to the medical support system as in April. However, he said the government will keep a close eye on the situation.

Read more about the situation in Tokyo:

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The number of new Covid-19 patients identified each day in the Australian state of Victoria has begun to stabilize thanks to strict lockdown measures, the government said Saturday.

A total of 446 new cases and 12 deaths were recorded Friday, according to Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews. Sutton said that the government's models showed the lockdown measures prevented about 20,000 cases.

In May, Australia was held up as a global model for its handling of the outbreak, which started with early measures to bar entry from high-risk countries. Stricter curbs on social gatherings, expanded testing, restaurant and bar closures followed as cases rose, with some states sealing their borders.

But Covid-19 cases in Victoria rose suddenly in recent weeks, with many new infections in aged care homes and among healthcare workers. Authorities responded by instituting some of the most stringent movement restrictions in Australia's history.

Sutton said the government will not see the results of an even stricter lockdown for another week.

The US has recorded at least 4,937,441 cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began, according to the latest tally from John Hopkins University.

The country often records more than 40,000 new cases daily -- and sometimes more than 60,000. That means the US is on track to soon surpass 5 million total cases.

The total includes at least 161,248 related deaths.

CNN is tracking US coronavirus cases here:

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Tracking Covid-19 cases in the US

US President Donald Trump on Friday laid out the executive actions he would pursue “if Democrats continue to hold” a relief package “hostage.”

The actions would include a payroll tax deferment, extending unemployment benefits, extending an eviction moratorium and deferring student loan payments and forgiving their interest.

“If Democrats continue to hold this critical relief hostage I will act under my authority as President to get Americans the relief they need,” he continued.

Some context: Negotiations over the next stimulus package stalled on Capitol Hill today as Democrats and Trump administration officials walked away after talks broke down and devolved into partisan finger-pointing. 

Read more about the talks:

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White House rejects Democrats' offer for $2 trillion stimulus price tag

People in many parts of the United States are moving around as much as they did before the pandemic started, a top disease forecaster said Friday.

That’s not good, said Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, which issues regular forecasts about the coronavirus pandemic.

More movement predicts more spread of the virus.

“If you look at the mobility data collected from cell phones in many parts of the country, we're almost back to pre-Covid levels of mobility, so we're just not being as cautious as other people are in other countries,” Murray told CNN on Friday.

Murray said that when cases start to come down, people tend to start interacting more, resulting in the up and down phenomenon many states have experienced with Covid-19 cases. 

There are other things people can do to slow the pandemic besides staying put, Murray said.

“Our view about this is that there should be a universal mask mandate in the US, that should come with some penalty if you're caught without a mask, because we know penalties actually increase mask-wearing even more than just a mandate,” Murray said. 

The latest prediction: The IHME released a model Thursday projecting nearly 300,000 deaths in the US from coronavirus by December 1. 

The model calculated that if 95% of the people in the US wore masks, that number could decrease to 228,271 deaths, saving more than 66,000 lives.