California Has Been Under-Counting COVID-19 Cases For Weeks; Global Total Tops 19 Million: Live Updates Tyler Durden Fri, 08/07/2020 - 08:13 Summary: Global total tops 19 million Newsom says Cali struggling to fix under-counting bug Philippines, Indonesia add new cases Hong Kong launches free testing scheme for all 7.5 million residents India passes 2 million cases, joining US and Brazil U of Washington scientists project 300k US deaths by December * * * The biggest news in the US on Friday has been brewing since at least Tuesday, when California public health official acknowledged that the country's largest testing-and-tracing effort may have accidentally undercounted cases over the past week or two, suggesting that the recent decline in new cases might be illusory. On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom touted a 21% drop in the average daily rate of new cases from the prior week. According to Bloomberg, as of Thursday evening, state officials still couldn't say when this problem would be fixed. To be sure, this vexing bug in California's system doesn't necessarily negate the recent decline in new cases. It just means California state officials can't say anything for certain. Top Cali public health official have warned that the actual numbers are likely too low, but by how much, they couldn't say. California officials have uncovered a bug in their virus reporting effort -- the nation’s largest, with more than 120,000 people tested each day. as a sign of stabilization. The next day, his top public health official warned the numbers were likely too low -- by how much he couldn’t say -- and the state didn’t know when the problem would be fixed. We don’t know if our cases are plateauing, rising or decreasing,” Sara Cody, public health director for Silicon Valley’s Santa Clara County, said at a press briefing. "I would say that right now, we’re back to feeling blind." Here's a chart of California cases... ...and deaths. Globally, cases have reached 19,089,364 on Friday, topping the 19 million mark, according to Johns Hopkins University. The worldwide deaths hit 714,744. Across the US, the number of new cases has been declining. While deaths have continued to edge higher, though the 7-day average has started to creep lower in the US. But more signs of a second (or third) wave have emerged in Southeast Asia, where the Philippines recently surpassed Indonesia as the worst-hit country. The later country reported 2,473 new infections Friday, bringing the total in the country to 121,226. The country also reported 72 new deaths, bringing its total to 5,593. The Philippines reported 3,379 new cases, bringing the country's total infections to 122,754, while deaths increased by 24 to 2,168. The Hong Kong government is introducing a universal voluntary coronavirus testing scheme to test all of the city's 7.5 million residents for free. Meanwhile, the city reported nearly 100 new cases Friday. Tokyo, meanwhile, reported 462 new cases, its first 400+ reading since Aug. 1. China reported 37 new cases, unchanged from a day earlier. India's cases topped 2 million, with a record single-day spike of 62,538 in the last 24 hours. Fatalities jumped to 41,585 after reporting another 886 since Thursday morning. Finally, nearly 300,000 Americans could die from COVID-19 by Dec. 1 according to the latest forecast fro University of Washington health experts. They also projected that 70,000 lives could be saved if people wore masks regularly. This, despite the fact that the pace of deaths in the US once again is on the decline...though that could soon change as school reopen.