Danaher antibody test gets emergency approval; Gilead announces remdesivir pricing

New cases of the coronavirus continued to surge over the weekend across several U.S. states, mostly in the American South and West. Amid the rise in new cases, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar warned Sunday that the “window is closing” to curb the spread of the virus and get the outbreak under control.

This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks. 

• Global cases: More than 10.15 million
• Global deaths: At least 502,048
• U.S. cases: More than 2.54 million
• U.S. deaths: At least 125,803

The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

10:21 a.m. ET — New data from the consumer tracking firm NPD Group point to shoppers in the U.S. getting back to shopping for items for themselves, not solely necessities, in search of enjoyment during the coronavirus pandemic.

The categories for kids apparel, underwear, sleepwear and shorts were all up year-over-year in May, according to the firm, and swimwear was growing week-over-week into early June.

“Right now, retail is reflecting the consumer’s need for normalcy in a sea of change,” NPD’s chief advisor Marshal Cohen said. “Purchases are becoming less about making our extended time at home more pleasant, and more about finding ways to enjoy ‘getting out’ and once again expressing yourself as an individual in public.”

More than two-thirds of consumers said they would be comfortable with shopping in a store once stay-at-home restrictions eased, according to a poll taken in May by NPD. Malls in New Jersey are reopening Monday. In-store retail in New York is also finally back open. —Lauren Thomas

9:54 a.m. ET — Danaher received emergency clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its antibody test, Reuters reported. The decision follows the tightening of FDA guidelines for antibodies tests, as high demand has led to the creation of fraudulent testing kits.

Beckman Coulter, a unit of Danaher, has shipped the test to 400 U.S. hospitals and will make more than 30 million tests a month, Reuters reported. Danaher also said it has begun distributing tests in other countries that accept the FDA’s clearance.

The test has a specificity rate of 99.6{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} and 100{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} sensitivity, meaning the chance of a false negative is low. There is no chance of getting a false positive based on the specificity rate. —Alex Harring

9:38 a.m. ET — Amazon is providing full- and part-time workers with a one-time “Thank You” bonus for working during the coronavirus pandemic, the company announced.

Full-time warehouse, delivery and Whole Foods workers will receive a $500 bonus, while part-time workers will get a $250 bonus. Flex drivers who deliver packages for Amazon will receive $150 if they worked more than 10 hours in June. Whole Foods store managers will get a $1,000 bonus, and owners of Amazon’s third-party delivery services will get a $3,000 bonus.

Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of retail operations, announced the bonuses in a memo sent to employees, saying he’s “never been more proud of our teams.” —Annie Palmer

9:35 a.m. ET — U.S. stocks opened higher even as U.S. coronavirus cases continued to surge, reports CNBC’s Fred Imbert and Thomas Franck. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 200 points at the opening bell, a gain of about 0.8{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f}. The S&P 500 added 0.3{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.1{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f}. —Melodie Warner

8:44 a.m. ET — Amazon warehouse workers have gone on strike in Germany after staff at several logistics centers tested positive for the coronavirus. The strikes are taking place at six of the e-commerce giant’s warehouses across the country on Monday and Tuesday.

A recent warehouse outbreak infected 40 to 50 workers, according to labor union Verdi.

“Amazon has so far shown no insight and is endangering the health of employees in favor of corporate profit,” said Orhan Akman, who is responsible for the retail and mail order sectors at Verdi, in a statement. —Sam Shead

8:32 a.m. ET — Restaurant Brands International said that U.S. same-store sales of Burger King are trending flat, the latest sign that the fast-food industry is recovering from the pandemic.

Even with many of its North American dining rooms closed or offering only reduced seating, Burger King is seeing customers come back and order through its drive-thru lanes. The burger chain also recently launched nationwide a meatless breakfast sandwich made with Impossible Foods’ sausage to jolt its breakfast sales.

Burger King’s sister chain Tim Hortons saw same-store declines in the negative high teens as of last week, marking a sequential improvement from May. Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen saw its U.S. same-store sales rise by the “very high 20s.” —Amelia Lucas

7:40 a.m. ET — Gilead Sciences announced pricing for its coronavirus treatment, remdesivir. It will sell the drug at $390 per vial to governments of developed countries and at $520 per vial for U.S. private insurance companies, adding that the pricing is “well below” the drug’s value.

The company will begin charging for the drug in July. It had previously been donating doses to the U.S. government for distribution since it received an emergency use authorization in May to treat Covid-19 patients. 

The majority of patients treated with remdesivir will receive a five-day treatment course using six vials of remdesivir, the company said. That would bring the government cost to $2,340 for patients on the five-day treatment and $3,120 for commercially insured patients.

“At the level we have priced remdesivir and with government programs in place, along with additional Gilead assistance as needed, we believe all patients will have access,” Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day said in an open letter. —Will Feuer

7:30 a.m. ET — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday that the U.K. needs to take a “Rooseveltian” approach to rebuilding its economy following the coronavirus epidemic.

Speaking to Times Radio, Johnson admitted that the virus had been an “absolute nightmare for the country” but added that “in those moments you have the opportunity to change and to do things better … to invest in infrastructure, transport, broadband, you name it.”

“I think this is the moment for a Rooseveltian approach to the U.K.,” he added, referencing former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt who was elected to the U.S. presidency during the height of the Great Depression. He is renowned for implementing the “New Deal” programs that funded the mass building of U.S. public infrastructure in the 1930s. —Holly Ellyatt