Coronavirus updates: Trump retweets call to fire Fauci

While many countries are pointing toward positive signs that social distancing might be finally flattening the curve, the novel coronavirus death toll continues to be staggering with more than 115,000 dead worldwide.

The U.S. is the global leader in the number of cases and deaths. At least 22,146 people in the U.S. have died as a result of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. More than 557,000 people in the U.S. have tested positive.

Worldwide, more than 1.8 million people have been diagnosed since the virus emerged in China in December. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some governments are hiding the scope of their nations' outbreaks.

Here are today's biggest developments:

Trump retweets call to fire Dr. Fauci from post

Sailor on USS Theodore Roosevelt dies

Here's how the situation is developing today. All times Eastern.

11 a.m.: 'Very good day' in NYC

In hard-hit New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio appeared positive and optimistic on Monday, praising New Yorkers for practicing social distancing as he announced new coronavirus numbers.

"This is a very good day," de Blasio said. 

The number of new hospital admissions fell to 383 on Saturday, down from 463 on Friday.

There were 835 people in intensive care units Saturday, down from 857 patients one day earlier.

Citywide, the percentage of people tested who were found to be positive fell from 59.3% to 58.1%.

De Blasio noted there is about a 48-hour lag in getting full, accurate information.

Tune into ABC at 1 p.m. ET and ABC News Live at 4 p.m. ET every weekday for special coverage of the novel coronavirus with the full ABC News team, including the latest news, context and analysis.

10:35 a.m.: Supreme Court to teleconference oral arguments in May

The U.S. Supreme Court will for the first time hear oral arguments by teleconference in May, seeking to resolve a number of urgent cases that include President Donald Trump's appeal of subpoenas seeking his financial records. 

The announcement means the justices will hand down several major decisions on politically-charged issues in time for the November presidential election. 

The justices are expected to make a ruling as to whether or not Trump must surrender his records to congressional and state investigators; whether states can require delegates to the Electoral College to cast ballots based on the popular vote; and whether the Obamacare contraceptive mandate is constitutional. 

10 a.m.: Death toll over 11,000 in UK

In the United Kingdom, the coronavirus death toll has climbed to at least 11,329.

The U.K. has the fifth highest death toll, behind the U.S., Italy, Spain and France.

Over 88,000 people in the U.K. have tested positive, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was released from the hospital on Sunday.

"It is hard to find the words to express my debt to the NHS [National Health Service] for saving my life," Johnson, 55, tweeted Sunday. "The efforts of millions of people across this country to stay home are worth it. Together we will overcome this challenge, as we have overcome so many challenges in the past."

9:15 a.m.: Sailor on USS Theodore Roosevelt dies

A sailor from the USS Theodore Roosevelt died from coronavirus complications on Monday, four days after he was admitted to an intensive care unit in Guam, the Navy said.

The sailor, whose name has not been released, tested positive for COVID-19 on March 30. The sailor was taken off the ship and put at an isolation house at the naval base in Guam where he received medical checks twice a day, the Navy said.

8:58 a.m.: Airline travel reaches another new low

U.S. airline travel has reached another new low.

On Sunday, 90,510 travelers came through TSA checkpoints nationwide. Exactly one year earlier, 2,446,801 passengers were screened.

What to know about coronavirus:

How it started and how to protect yourself: Coronavirus explained

What to do if you have symptoms: Coronavirus symptoms

Tracking the spread in the U.S. and worldwide: Coronavirus map

7:02 a.m.: Spain reports a 2.09% rate of increase in newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases

Spanish authorities reported on Monday that there were only 3,477 newly diagnosed cases of the coronavirus, a 2.09% rate of increase.

The total number of confirmed cases is now at 3,477, the Spanish Health Ministry said.

Business around the country that cannot operate remotely are allowed to reopen their doors to the public on Monday.

All non-essential businesses will remain closed through April 26.

4:55 a.m.: Moscow introduces digital passes to move around the city

The Moscow government introduced a special page on their website to apply for a QR code to move around the city. The website became unavailable for some users on Monday morning, Meduza reported. Officials said the website was down due to a botnet attack, that was coming 'also from abroad'. The pass will be obligatory starting from Wednesday.

3:48 a.m.: President Trump retweets call to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci

President Trump retweeted a Twitter posting that demanded Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, be fired from his post.

The tweet was in response to DeAnna Lorraine, a former candidate for Congress in California.

Said Lorraine: "Fauci is now saying that had Trump listened to the medical experts earlier he could've saved more lives. Fauci was telling people on February 29th that there was nothing to worry about and it posed no threat to the US public at large.Time to #FireFauci."

Only hours earlier, Fauci had appeared on CNN saying that he thinks more lives could have been saved if mitigation efforts to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus had started earlier.

"I mean, obviously, you could logically say that if you had a process that was ongoing and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives," Fauci told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union." "Obviously, no one is going to deny that. But what goes into those decisions is complicated ... But you're right, I mean, obviously, if we had right from the very beginning shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different. But there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then."

11:52 p.m.: Trump associate, referenced at briefings, dies of virus

A longtime friend of Trump, whom the president said entered the hospital "for a mild stay" but then slipped into a coma due to the coronavirus, has died, ABC News confirmed.

New York real estate mogul Stanley Chera died at a New York hospital where he was battling the virus, a source said.

Although the president never mentioned Chera by name during his briefings on the virus, he described Chera's battle with COVID-19 as a sobering moment for him personally.

"I have some friends that are unbelievably sick," Trump said at the White House coronavirus task force briefing on March 30. "We thought they were going in for a mild stay and, in one case, he's unconscious, in a coma. And you say, 'How did that happen?'"

At the next day's briefing, a somber Trump called on Americans to be "prepared for the hard days that lie ahead" as health advisers announced new projections indicating between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans could die from the virus.

You "think of it as the flu, but it's not the flu. It's vicious," Trump said. "When you send a friend to the hospital and you call up to find out how is he doing -- it's happened to me. Where he goes to the hospital, he says goodbye, he's sort of a tough guy -- a little older, a little heavier than he'd like to be, frankly -- and you call up the next day, 'How's he doing?' and, 'Sir, he's in a coma.' This is not the flu."

Asked at the next briefing whether his friend's struggle represented a turning point in this thinking about the virus, Trump said, "Yeah, well, not a turning point, no. Before that, I knew how -- because I’m seeing numbers and I’m seeing statistics that are, you know, not exactly very good."

"But -- but it hit him very hard," Trump continued. "He’s strong -- a very strong kind of a guy. But he’s older. He’s heavier. And he’s sort of central casting for what we’re talking about, and it hit him very hard. I’ve never seen anything like it."

ABC News' Devin Dwyer, Aicha El Hammar, Alina Lobzina, Luis Martinez, Christine Theodorou and J Gabriel Ware contributed to this report.