Scientists also question Harvard study that suggested the disease could have been spreading even earlier than thought.

Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Kate Mayberry in Kuala Lumpur.

• China has dismissed as “ridiculous” a Harvard Medical School study that suggested the coronavirus could have been circulating in Wuhan as early as August. Scientists have also said it offers no convincing evidence of when the outbreak began. 
• Brazil has restored the COVID-19 data to its official national website after a Supreme Federal Court challenge to the controversial move.
• Nearly 7.2 million people have now been confirmed to have the coronavirus and nearly 409,000 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The US, the UK and Brazil have recorded the highest death tolls. The US, Brazil and Russia have the most cases.

Here are the latest updates:

Wednesday, June 10

02:15 GMT – California, Arizona see coronavirus cases spike

Cases of coronavirus are spiking and leading to more hospital admissions in parts of California and Arizona, raising the risk of authorities tightening public health restrictions to curb the virus’ spread.

More than 18 million people in California, including residents of Los Angeles, Santa Clara and Fresno are now on a state watch list of places at risk, according to Reuters.

“Many of the cases that are showing up in hospitals are linked to gatherings that are taking place in homes – birthday parties and funerals,” said Olivia Kasirye, the public health director of Sacramento County.

Reuters reports 22 states across the US reporting weekly increases in coronavirus cases on Tuesday. Arizona, Utah and New Mexico all recorded rise of 40 percent or more over the week, it said.

01:20 GMT – Argentina daily coronavirus cases top 1,000 for first time 

Argentina has confirmed more than 1,000 new daily cases of coronavirus for the first time.

Argentina’s Health Ministry on Tuesday said it had logged 1,141 new cases in the past 24 hours, as well 24 deaths, pushing its totals to 24,761 cases and 717 deaths since the outbreak began in early March.

Latin America has become the new epicentre of the global outbreak although Argentina’s case load remains remains significantly lower than neighbours Chile and Brazil.

Argentina last week extended a mandatory lockdown in Buenos Aires, which accounts for the country’s highest concentration of confirmed infections. Other areas have moved to “mandatory and preventive social distancing.”

23:50 GMT (Tuesday) – Mexico warns peak could be weeks away

Mexico’s deputy health minister says it could be weeks before the country, which has already started to reopen its economy, sees a peak in coronavirus cases. 

“We still haven’t reached the maximum point,” Hugo Lopez-Gatell said at a news conference, saying numbers would continue to rise each day. The country is forecasting up to 35,000 deaths up to October.

The health ministry said 596 people died from COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total to 14,649.

23:30 GMT (Tuesday) – Brazil restores data after court challenge to its removal

Brazil has restored data on its COVID-19 outbreak to its official national website after a Supreme Court judge ordered the government to reinstate cumulative totals and state breakdowns.

The decision to remove the data triggered an outcry and accusations that the government, under far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, was trying to mask the extent of the outbreak. 

On Tuesday evening, Brazil had a total of 739,503 confirmed cases with 38,406 deaths. It has the second-highest caseload in the world after the US and the third-highest death toll after the United States and the United Kingdom.

Read all the updates from yesterday (June 9) here.

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