LONDON — British shopping mall owner Intu is scrambling to avoid bankruptcy after failing to strike a deal with its creditors after being hammered by lower rent payments from retail clients in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The group, which owns the Trafford Centre, has been trying to secure a “standstill’’ on loans and must reach a deal by midnight Friday. The company has struggled with a 4.5 billion pound ($5.6 billion) debt burden this year.
The company says in a statement that its board is “considering the position of Intu with a view to protecting the interests of its stakeholders. This is likely to involve the appointment of administrators.’’
The company employs 3,000 people. A further 102,000 work for the shops within its shopping centers.
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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— Virus taking stronger hold in US, other populated countries
— Governors who quickly reopened backpedal as virus surges
— After waves of COVID deaths, care homes face legal reckoning
— While India’s leaders have promised coronavirus testing and care for all who need it, regardless of income, treatment options are as stratified and unequal as the country itself.
— U.S. officials estimate that 20 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus since it first arrived in the United States, with millions never knowing they had it. Thursday’s estimate is roughly 10 times the 2.3 million cases that have been confirmed in the U.S.
— A government whistleblower ousted from a top scientific job alleges that the Trump administration is intensifying its campaign to punish him for revealing shortcomings in the U.S. coronavirus response.
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Follow all of AP's pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
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TOKYO — Tokyo has confirmed 54 new cases of the coronavirus, with the number staying at its highest since early May.
Japan lifted a seven-week pandemic state emergency in late May, and social and business activity has since largely resumed.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said although the new daily cases remain high, but capital is not facing a second wave of infections. She said the rate of infection was not increasing rapidly as in late March, and that Tokyo’s hospitals and health system are able to cope.
Koike said experts are now working to compile a new “caution scale” that better fits social and economic activities in the ongoing phase of living with the virus.
Most of the latest cases are people in their 20s and 30s. Koike said many recent cases are linked to workplaces and nightclubs and transmitted to family members.
Tokyo has had 5,997 cases and 325 deaths, about one-third of the national total.
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BERLIN — A German meat company says it plans to perform daily coronavirus tests on all 5,000 workers involved in the production process amid concerns about a series of outbreaks at slaughterhouses in the country.
Westfleisch, one of Germany’s biggest meat processing companies, said Friday that it is already conducting weekly tests on the workers but from next week wants to perform them daily.
Westfleisch suffered a COVID-19 outbreak involving hundreds of workers at its plant in the western town of Coesfeld in May, but that has since passed.
Rival firm Toennies Group is at the center of an outbreak in the nearby region of Guetersloh that has led to a partial lockdown as authorities try to prevent the spread of the virus to the wider community.
Westfleisch executive Steen Soennichsen said the tests would be examined by external labs and results would be available within hours, allowing the company to act swiftly if there are any new cases.
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ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic is ending pay cuts that the Minnesota-based health system imposed to deal with a patient downturn caused by the novel coronavirus.
The Star Tribune reports Mayo plans to restore pay and return furloughed workers this summer.
In April, Mayo announced plans to cut pay to more than 20,000 employees and seek furloughs when elective surgeries were halted in anticipation of a surge in COVID-19 patients.
The clinic was projecting a possible $3 billion loss in 2020. But Mayo says patient volumes reached 80% to 90% of normal by mid-June, which was a quicker-than-expected recovery.
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PHOENIX — An Arizona nightclub faces a misdemeanor charge for alleged failure to enforce its own social distancing polices as the number of COVID-19 cases continued rising.
Scottsdale police announced the case against the nightclub Riot House, saying officers saw both customers and employees “not practicing physical distancing, not wearing face coverings and not complying with their plan.”
It appears to be the first such case against an Arizona business during the pandemic for alleged failure to follow its own social distancing rules.
The state Department of Health Services reported 3,056 additional COVID-19 cases Thursday, the fourth day in a week in which the state had daily increases over 3,000.
Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, who lifted stay-home restrictions in May, cautioned that the expectation is that the numbers will be worse in the next couple of weeks.
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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah reported its second-highest daily number of new COVID-19 cases Thursday as the state deals with a troubling surge that started after state leaders allowed businesses to reopen.
The 590 new cases are behind only the 643 on Saturday, state health department figures show. The state has averaged 503 confirmed cases per day over the last week, more than double the 200-per-day rate the state’s epidemiologist recommended the state should be at by July 1 to avoid having to consider a total shutdown of the economy.
Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, has said he will not shut down the economy but has agreed to wait at least two weeks before loosening any more restrictions.
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LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday allowed for the return of pro sports in Michigan as long as fans aren’t in attendance.
The move followed Major League Baseball’s decision this week to set a 60-game schedule to start July 23 or July 24 in empty ballparks. The governor said pro teams can resume operations notwithstanding capacity limits and restrictions on gatherings and events to curb the coronavirus.
Games must be played without a live audience for the “time being.” Only staff of the facility and media can attend.
Whitmer’s order does not address college sports.
There were 33.7 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus per 100,000 people in Michigan over the past two weeks. That's the eight-lowest rate in the U.S. More than 6,100 deaths have been recorded and nearly 69,000 people have been infected.
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NEW ORLEANS — Students will be wearing face masks and washing their hands several times a day when Louisiana schools reopen for the upcoming school year in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Those are among requirements that were set and will be enforced by the Louisiana Department of Health. State Education Superintendent Cade Brumley said another 14 suggestions also are on the list of precautions.
State officials say school systems need to have plans for all-classroom, all-distance and hybrid teaching. If possible, they should have a laptop or tablet for every student and ensure that all students can connect to the internet.
