Restaurants across New Jersey can start opening for indoor dining this Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday.
Restaurants will be limited to 25% capacity and must incorporate social distancing between tables, he said.
“Reopening responsibly will help us restore one of our state’s key industries while continuing to make progress against” the virus, Murphy tweeted.
New Jersey ranks No. 8 in the country for COVID-19 cases, with over 191,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. As of Sunday, the rate of transmission was at .87, according to state data.
-US reports over 35,000 new cases
There were 35,343 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Sunday, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
Sunday’s tally is far below the country’s record set on July 16, when 77,255 new cases were identified in a 24-hour reporting period.
An additional 429 coronavirus-related deaths were also recorded Sunday. The latest daily death toll is well under the record 2,666 new fatalities that were reported on April 17.
A total of 5,997,163 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 183,068 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.
By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up and crossing 70,000 for the first time in mid-July.
– Hungary to shut its borders amid rising cases
Hungary will shut its border to non-residents from Tuesday in an effort to curb the rising number of COVID-19 cases, the country’s government announced Friday.
Meanwhile, Hungarian citizens returning home from abroad will be required to either self-quarantine for 14 days or test negative for COVID-19 twice, within 48 hours apart.
The move comes after Hungary identified 292 new cases on Sunday, the largest day-to-day increase the landlocked European nation has seen so far.
Overall, Hungary has reported at least 6,139 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 with 615 deaths, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
