The death toll in the us is nearing 200,000, according to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins University

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  The death toll in the US is nearing 200,000, according to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. The US still has the highest death toll and total number of infections in the world
  

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  President Donald Trump gave his pandemic response "an A+" in a conversation with veteran journalist Bob Woodward, according to recordings obtained by US broadcaster CNN. "We’ve done a phenomenal job - not just a good job, a phenomenal job," he said
  
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  Black Americans are being encouraged to take part in vaccine trials, by a group called the Covid-19 Prevention Network, set up by a US public health body. The event, which will be held virtually, is expected to be repeated every month. Vaccine trials have struggled to recruit ethnic minorities
  
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  At the same time, a group of black doctors has created a panel to independently vet regulators' decisions about Covid-19 drugs and vaccines, as well as guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
  
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  Public health body the CDC has updated its guidance to say the virus is airborne, and that it can spread "through respiratory droplets or small particles, such as those in aerosols". These are produced even when people breathe
  
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  Other research from the CDC shows that coronavirus can spread easily among passengers on long-haul flights. A report from the body looks at the case of a woman who flew business class from London to Vietnam in March, and passed the virus on to 15 other people