NHL announces plan to resume season with amended playoffs amid COVID-19 pandemic

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 348,000 people worldwide.

More than 5.5 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with 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. 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.

Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the United States has become the worst-affected country, with more than 1.6 million diagnosed cases and at least 98,717 deaths.

Today's biggest developments:

Here's how the news developed Tuesday. All times Eastern. Please refresh this page for updates.

6:39 p.m.: NHL announces framework to resume play

The National Hockey League, on hiatus since March 12, announced its intention to restart team training camps by mid-July in preparation for an amended Stanley Cup playoffs to be held in two "hub" cities.

Twenty-four of the league's 31 teams will return to the ice to vie for the Stanley Cup, up from the 16 teams that usually make the playoffs.

Each of the two conferences will conduct its games in a "hub" city to be selected from among Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Vancouver, league officials said.

The top four teams in each conference will play a round-robin series to determine seeding, while the conference's remaining eight teams will play a best-of-five qualifying round, with the winners joining the top seeds for the playoffs' first round.

Game dates and series formats are yet to be announced and will depend on medical conditions and government regulations.

"We are hopeful the Return To Play Plan will allow us to complete the season and award the Stanley Cup in a manner in which the health and safety of our players, on-ice officials, team staff and associated individuals involved are paramount," Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.

Officials with the National Basketball Association, whose season runs roughly parallel to the NHL's, are holding exploratory talks with The Walt Disney Company, ABC News' parent company, about resuming the NBA season at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida, in late July, league officials say.

This report was featured in the Wednesday, May 27, 2020, episode of “Start Here,” ABC News’ daily news podcast.

"Start Here" offers a straightforward look at the day's top stories in 20 minutes. Listen for free every weekday on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, the ABC News app or wherever you get your podcasts.

6:10 p.m.: Ford pauses production at Kansas City plant

A little more than two weeks after reopening its Kansas City plant, Ford Motor Co. has paused production after one of its workers tested positive for COVID-19, the automaker announced Tuesday.

Production of the Ford Transit van at the Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo, Missouri, is temporarily paused until a deep clean is completed, the company said. The plant also manufactures the F-150 pickup truck.

“[Our] protocol calls for us to deep clean and disinfect the employees’ work area, equipment, team area and the path that the employee took while at the plant today," the company said in a statement. "We are notifying people known to have been in close contact with the infected individual and asking them to self-quarantine for 14 days.”

After closing its U.S. factories in mid-March, Ford resumed production at most plants, including Kansas City, on May 18. New safety protocols include maintaining six feet of distance at workstations, wearing masks and, in some cases, face shields, and temperature scans upon entering the building.

5 p.m.: California reopening hair salons, barbershops in most counties

Hair salons, barbershops can now reopen in 47 of California's 58 counties, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday, as the state moves into "phase three" of its reopening.

"Forty-seven counties have self-attested to having plans of action as it relates to PPE, having the adequate number of testing ability to cohort individuals who have tested positive, or who have come into contact with someone who has tested positive," he said.

Retail stores can also reopen with proper safety modifications, and places of worship can open with 25% capacity or 100 people maximum, he said.

Guidelines for childcare and summer camps are expected to be released on Wednesday while plans for the television and film industry are expected to be announced this week or over the weekend, Newsom said.

Nearly 100,000 Californians have been diagnosed and more than 3,800 have lost their lives due to the virus, Newsom said.

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.

3:31 p.m.: 'The door is open' to hold GOP convention in Fla., governor says

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signaled his openness to hosting the Republican National Convention in Florida.

This comes after President Donald Trump on Memorial Day tweeted a threat to move the convention from North Carolina if the southern state's "Democrat Governor," Roy Cooper, wouldn't guarantee that a "full attendance in the Arena" would be allowed in August.

De Santis said Tuesday, "Florida would love to have the RNC. Heck, I'm a Republican, it would be good for us to have the DNC in terms of the in terms of the economic impact when you talk about major events like that."

"The door is open, we want to have the conversation," he said.

But DeSantis also urged that the state would "abide" by any safety restrictions to host the event in an alternative venue.

"So my posture on all this is we should try to get it done as best we can and in accordance with whatever safety requirements," he said. "But you know, his government will be talking about the safety restrictions, the president's government, so if he's going to do a convention obviously he's gonna want to abide by whatever they're saying. So if we can get that done and do it in a way that's safe, that would be a huge economic impact for the state of Florida."

North Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Mandy Cohen, has sent a letter to Republican National Convention CEO Marcia Lee Kelly, requesting "a written plan" for how to "approach the COVID-19 safety aspects of the convention."

The letter -- obtained by ABC Raleigh station WTVD -- comes in response to the president's tweet on Monday, and confirms that the RNC and state officials in North Carolina were in talks about convention planning as recently as Friday.

"We also discussed on Friday the need to plan for different levels of impact of COVID-19 so the RNC convention logistics could be tailored to the COVID-19 situation we find ourselves in at the end of August," Cohen wrote.

She urged the RNC to consider "several scenarios" as they continue to move forward with planning.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday afternoon, "it's OK for political conventions to be political, but pandemic response cannot be. Already, we've been in talks with the RNC about the kind of convention that they would need to run and the kind of options that we need on the table."

"We have asked the RNC to present to us in writing their proposal," Cooper said. "We asked NASCAR to do the very same thing, and NASCAR did a good job this weekend of executing their plan of face coverings, of social distancing, signage, cleaning."

North Carolina has over 24,000 people diagnosed with the coronavirus. At least 766 people have died.

Cooper warned Tuesday, "over the weekend we saw our highest one-day increase in positive cases and our highest day of hospitalizations yet."

"This virus remains a serious threat and we cannot let our guard down," Cooper said.

3:10 p.m.: Virginia to require face coverings in public

Everyone ages 10 and above in Virginia must wear a face covering when inside or at a public place starting this Friday, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said.

This includes while on public transportation, while inside all personal care and grooming establishments, and while inside food and beverage establishments.

Exceptions are for eating, drinking and exercising, as well as if health conditions prevent residents from wearing a covering, he said.

Law enforcement will not have a role in making sure that people wear masks, Northam said.

Virginia has over 39,000 cases of the coronavirus. At least 1,236 people have died.

2:20 p.m.: Chicago ramps up contact tracing

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday that the city is ramping-up community-level contact tracing with a new $56 million request for proposal (RFP) to expand contact tracing.

Lightfoot said 85% of the funds will be directed to support at least 30 organizations that are neighborhood-based or service residents most impacted by COVID-19.

At least 600 people will join the contact tracing team, the mayor said.

Chicago has over 42,000 cases of COVID-19. Illinois has over 110,000 cases.

11:57 a.m.: Over 600 TSA employees test positive

A total of 614 TSA employees have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the agency.

More than 400 of those employees have since recovered from the virus. Six TSA employees have died from the virus.

The TSA last week said it's rolling out adjusted rules for traveling during the pandemic.

Flyers are now permitted to bring a hand sanitizer container that's up to 12 ounces in their carry-on bags.

Also, instead of handing their paper or electronic boarding pass over to the TSA officer, travelers can place the boarding pass directly on the scanner.

10:30 a.m.: NJ can resume pro sports

In New Jersey, where over 155,000 people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, schools can hold outdoor graduation ceremonies beginning July 6, as long as they comply with social distancing, Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted on Tuesday morning. Guidance will be released on Wednesday, he said.

Murphy also tweeted that the state's professional sports teams can resume training and competition, "if their leagues choose to move in that direction."

"We have been in constant discussions with teams about necessary protocols to protect the health and safety of players, coaches, and personnel," Murphy said.

New Jersey now has 23 cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) , a coronavirus-related illness in children.

The children range in age from 1 to 18. All of them required hospitalization.

"Children with this syndrome may require intensive hospital care. It is important that parents take steps to prevent children from being exposed to COVID-19," said New Jersey's Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli. "Physical distancing from others, using face coverings, and practicing good hand hygiene are the best ways to prevent COVID-19.”

Common symptoms include persistent fever, irritability or sluggishness, abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, rash, conjunctivitis, enlarged lymph node on one side of the neck, red cracked lips or red tongue, swollen hands and feet.

"Health care providers have noted that this inflammatory syndrome can also be characterized by severe inflammation of the heart, blood vessels, the gastrointestinal tract, or other organs, believed to be caused by a reaction to the coronavirus," the New Jersey Department of Health said in a statement Tuesday. "The syndrome has features like Kawasaki disease and Toxic-Shock Syndrome."

8:14 a.m.: Coronavirus cases top 115,000 in Africa

More than 115,000 people in Africa have now been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to a count kept by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 46,000 of those patients have recovered from the disease so far, while at least 3,471 others have died.

South Africa is the country with the highest number of confirmed cases on the African continent -- more than 23,000 -- and its port city of Cape Town is the epicenter. However, Egypt has the highest number of deaths, nearly 800.

Although around half of all African nations have community transmission of the novel coronavirus, Africa is the least-affected region globally in terms of the number of cases and deaths reported to the World Health Organization.

"Of course, these numbers don't paint the full picture," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during Monday's press briefing. "Testing capacity in Africa is still being ramped up and there is a likelihood that some cases may be missed. But even so, Africa appears to have so far been spared the scale of outbreaks we have seen in other regions."

7:25 a.m.: UK authorizes experimental drug remdesivir for COVID-19 patients

The United Kingdom's medicines agency has authorized the use of the experimental drug remdesivir for coronavirus patients in the country.

The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency announced Tuesday that it would support the use of remdesivir, made by U.S. biopharmaceutical company Gilead, to treat adults and adolescents hospitalized with severe cases of COVID-19.

"We are committed to ensuring that patients can have fast access to promising new treatments for COVID-19," Dr.  June Raine, the agency's chief executive, said in a statement.

Remdesivir will be provided to the U.K. National Health Service free of charge by Gilead and will be for patients with "high, unmet medical need determined by a physician," according to the agency. The drug will also continue to be used in the country's clinical trials.

Gilead originally developed remdesivir to treat patients with Ebola virus disease. However, the antiviral medication has been tapped as a potential treatment for COVID-19.

Although clinical trials are still under way across the globe to determine whether remdesivir is in fact effective against the novel coronavirus, the initial data is promising.

Preliminary results released last month from an NIH trial on more than 1,000 people severely sickened with COVID-19 in 75 hospitals around the world showed that those who received remdesivir recovered 31% faster than those who were given a placebo.

6:58 a.m.: Russia reports record daily spike in coronavirus deaths

Russia said Tuesday that it has registered a record 174 coronavirus-related deaths over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide toll to 3,807.

The latest daily increase in COVID-19 fatalities shatters the country's previous record of 153 new deaths reported on Sunday. However, the overall tally is still considerably lower than many other countries hit hard by the pandemic.

Russia's coronavirus response headquarters also reported 8,915 new cases of COVID-19 over the same 24-hour period, placing the country's count at 362,342.

The latest daily caseload is down from a peak of 11,656 new infections reported on May 11, during which Russia registered over 10,000 new cases per day over a 12-day period. Since then, the daily number of new infections has hovered around 9,000 per day.

Russian President Vladimir Putin began easing the nationwide lockdown earlier this month, despite a rising number of cases at the time.

Over the weekend, Brazil surpassed Russia as the country with the second-highest number of diagnosed COVID-19 cases in the world, behind the United States, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

6:02 a.m.: UK minister resigns over senior aide's lockdown controversy

A junior minister of the United Kingdom's parliament has resigned over the controversy surrounding British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's closest aide, Dominic Cummings, who flouted nationwide lockdown restrictions back in March.

Douglas Ross stepped down from his post as parliamentary under-secretary of state for Scotland on Tuesday, saying in a statement, "There was much I still hoped to do in this role but events over the last few days mean I can no longer serve as a member of this government."

Ross' resignation comes on the heels of a press statement made by Cummings, in which he admitted to driving his child and ill wife more than 250 miles with from their London home to his parents house in northern England at the end of March during the lockdown. He said he didn't make any stops along the way.

"I was worried that if my wife and I were both seriously ill, possibly hospitalized, there is nobody in London that we could reasonably ask to look after our child and expose themselves to COVID," Cummings said at a news conference Monday.

Upon arriving at his parent's home, Cummings said he developed symptoms of COVID-19 while his wife began feeling better. Their 4-year-old son also fell ill and spent a night in the hospital but ultimately tested negative for the virus. As they recovered, Cummings said he sought "expert medical advice" and was told it was safe to drive his family back to London in mid-April. He maintained that he acted "reasonably and legally" and said he doesn't regret what he did.

"While the intentions may have been well meaning, the reaction to this news shows that Mr. Cummings interpretation of the government advice was not shared by the vast majority of people who have done as the government asked," Ross said in his statement Tuesday. "I have constituents who didn't get to say goodbye to loved ones; families who could not mourn together; people who didn't visit sick relatives because they followed the guidelines of the government. I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior advisor to the government was right."

Johnson, however, has stood by his chief adviser, saying on Sunday that he believes Cummings acted "responsibly, legally and with integrity."

5:24 a.m.: US reports over 19,000 new coronavirus cases

More than 19,000 people in the United States were diagnosed with COVID-19 on Monday, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

The country also reported over 500 new deaths from the disease on the same day.

The United States is, by far, the hardest-hit nation in the coronavirus pandemic. New York remains the worst-hit U.S. state, with at least 362,764 diagnosed cases and 23,488 deaths, according to the latest data from the New York State Department of Health.

What to know about coronavirus:

3:50 a.m.: Latin America's largest airline files for US bankruptcy protection

Latin America's largest airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday as the travel industry reels from the impact of lockdowns, quarantines and other restrictions imposed by governments around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic.

LATAM Airlines Group said it and its affiliated companies in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the United States sought bankruptcy court protection in New York.

"The U.S. Chapter 11 financial reorganization process provides a clear and guided opportunity to work with our creditors and other stakeholders to reduce our debt, address commercial challenges that we, like others in our industry, are facing as a group," the Santiago, Chile-based company said in a statement Tuesday. "It is very different from the concept of bankruptcy in other countries and is not a liquidation proceeding."

LATAM Airlines CEO Roberto Alvo said the group is "committed to continuing flying." The bankruptcy filing won't affect efforts to return to regular operations and the company will respect its commitments with cargo customers. Travelers with existing tickets, vouchers and air miles can still use them.

"Given the impact that that COVID-19 generated crisis has had on the aviation industry, LATAM has been forced to make a series of extremely difficult decisions in the past few months," Alvo said in a video message Tuesday. "These have been taken with the objective of ensuring the protection of the group, continuing operations and meeting commitments."

LATAM Airlines is South America's biggest carrier by passenger traffic. It operated around 1,300 flights per day and transported a record 74 million passengers last year, according to the company's more recent annual report.

"We are focused on looking towards a post-COVID future and centered in our business's transformation," Alvo said, "so that we may adapt to a new world and a new and evolving way of flying, where the health and safety of our passengers and employees is the first priority."

ABC News' Dee Carden, Kendall Karson, Alina Lobzina, Amanda Maile, Bonnie Mclean, Sarah Shales and Eric Strauss contributed to this report.

In New Jersey, where over 155,000 people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, schools can hold outdoor graduation ceremonies beginning July 6, as long as they comply with social distancing, Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted on Tuesday morning. Guidance will be released on Wednesday, he said.

Murphy also tweeted that the state's professional sports teams can resume training and competition, "if their leagues choose to move in that direction."

"We have been in constant discussions with teams about necessary protocols to protect the health and safety of players, coaches, and personnel," Murphy said.

New Jersey now has 23 cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) , a coronavirus-related illness in children.

The children range in age from 1 to 18. All of them required hospitalization.

"Children with this syndrome may require intensive hospital care. It is important that parents take steps to prevent children from being exposed to COVID-19," said New Jersey's Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli. "Physical distancing from others, using face coverings, and practicing good hand hygiene are the best ways to prevent COVID-19.”

Common symptoms include persistent fever, irritability or sluggishness, abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, rash, conjunctivitis, enlarged lymph node on one side of the neck, red cracked lips or red tongue, swollen hands and feet.

"Health care providers have noted that this inflammatory syndrome can also be characterized by severe inflammation of the heart, blood vessels, the gastrointestinal tract, or other organs, believed to be caused by a reaction to the coronavirus," the New Jersey Department of Health said in a statement Tuesday. "The syndrome has features like Kawasaki disease and Toxic-Shock Syndrome."

8:14 a.m.: Coronavirus cases top 115,000 in Africa

More than 115,000 people in Africa have now been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to a count kept by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 46,000 of those patients have recovered from the disease so far, while at least 3,471 others have died.

South Africa is the country with the highest number of confirmed cases on the African continent -- more than 23,000 -- and its port city of Cape Town is the epicenter. However, Egypt has the highest number of deaths, nearly 800.

Although around half of all African nations have community transmission of the novel coronavirus, Africa is the least-affected region globally in terms of the number of cases and deaths reported to the World Health Organization.

"Of course, these numbers don't paint the full picture," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during Monday's press briefing. "Testing capacity in Africa is still being ramped up and there is a likelihood that some cases may be missed. But even so, Africa appears to have so far been spared the scale of outbreaks we have seen in other regions."

7:25 a.m.: UK authorizes experimental drug remdesivir for COVID-19 patients

The United Kingdom's medicines agency has authorized the use of the experimental drug remdesivir for coronavirus patients in the country.

The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency announced Tuesday that it would support the use of remdesivir, made by U.S. biopharmaceutical company Gilead, to treat adults and adolescents hospitalized with severe cases of COVID-19.

"We are committed to ensuring that patients can have fast access to promising new treatments for COVID-19," Dr.  June Raine, the agency's chief executive, said in a statement.

Remdesivir will be provided to the U.K. National Health Service free of charge by Gilead and will be for patients with "high, unmet medical need determined by a physician," according to the agency. The drug will also continue to be used in the country's clinical trials.

Gilead originally developed remdesivir to treat patients with Ebola virus disease. However, the antiviral medication has been tapped as a potential treatment for COVID-19.

Although clinical trials are still under way across the globe to determine whether remdesivir is in fact effective against the novel coronavirus, the initial data is promising.

Preliminary results released last month from an NIH trial on more than 1,000 people severely sickened with COVID-19 in 75 hospitals around the world showed that those who received remdesivir recovered 31% faster than those who were given a placebo.

6:58 a.m.: Russia reports record daily spike in coronavirus deaths

Russia said Tuesday that it has registered a record 174 coronavirus-related deaths over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide toll to 3,807.

The latest daily increase in COVID-19 fatalities shatters the country's previous record of 153 new deaths reported on Sunday. However, the overall tally is still considerably lower than many other countries hit hard by the pandemic.

Russia's coronavirus response headquarters also reported 8,915 new cases of COVID-19 over the same 24-hour period, placing the country's count at 362,342.

The latest daily caseload is down from a peak of 11,656 new infections reported on May 11, during which Russia registered over 10,000 new cases per day over a 12-day period. Since then, the daily number of new infections has hovered around 9,000 per day.

Russian President Vladimir Putin began easing the nationwide lockdown earlier this month, despite a rising number of cases at the time.

Over the weekend, Brazil surpassed Russia as the country with the second-highest number of diagnosed COVID-19 cases in the world, behind the United States, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

6:02 a.m.: UK minister resigns over senior aide's lockdown controversy

A junior minister of the United Kingdom's parliament has resigned over the controversy surrounding British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's closest aide, Dominic Cummings, who flouted nationwide lockdown restrictions back in March.

Douglas Ross stepped down from his post as parliamentary under-secretary of state for Scotland on Tuesday, saying in a statement, "There was much I still hoped to do in this role but events over the last few days mean I can no longer serve as a member of this government."

Ross' resignation comes on the heels of a press statement made by Cummings, in which he admitted to driving his child and ill wife more than 250 miles with from their London home to his parents house in northern England at the end of March during the lockdown. He said he didn't make any stops along the way.

"I was worried that if my wife and I were both seriously ill, possibly hospitalized, there is nobody in London that we could reasonably ask to look after our child and expose themselves to COVID," Cummings said at a news conference Monday.

Upon arriving at his parent's home, Cummings said he developed symptoms of COVID-19 while his wife began feeling better. Their 4-year-old son also fell ill and spent a night in the hospital but ultimately tested negative for the virus. As they recovered, Cummings said he sought "expert medical advice" and was told it was safe to drive his family back to London in mid-April. He maintained that he acted "reasonably and legally" and said he doesn't regret what he did.

"While the intentions may have been well meaning, the reaction to this news shows that Mr. Cummings interpretation of the government advice was not shared by the vast majority of people who have done as the government asked," Ross said in his statement Tuesday. "I have constituents who didn't get to say goodbye to loved ones; families who could not mourn together; people who didn't visit sick relatives because they followed the guidelines of the government. I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior advisor to the government was right."

Johnson, however, has stood by his chief adviser, saying on Sunday that he believes Cummings acted "responsibly, legally and with integrity."

5:24 a.m.: US reports over 19,000 new coronavirus cases

More than 19,000 people in the United States were diagnosed with COVID-19 on Monday, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

The country also reported over 500 new deaths from the disease on the same day.

The United States is, by far, the hardest-hit nation in the coronavirus pandemic. New York remains the worst-hit U.S. state, with at least 362,764 diagnosed cases and 23,488 deaths, according to the latest data from the New York State Department of Health.

What to know about coronavirus:

3:50 a.m.: Latin America's largest airline files for US bankruptcy protection

Latin America's largest airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday as the travel industry reels from the impact of lockdowns, quarantines and other restrictions imposed by governments around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic.

LATAM Airlines Group said it and its affiliated companies in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the United States sought bankruptcy court protection in New York.

"The U.S. Chapter 11 financial reorganization process provides a clear and guided opportunity to work with our creditors and other stakeholders to reduce our debt, address commercial challenges that we, like others in our industry, are facing as a group," the Santiago, Chile-based company said in a statement Tuesday. "It is very different from the concept of bankruptcy in other countries and is not a liquidation proceeding."

LATAM Airlines CEO Roberto Alvo said the group is "committed to continuing flying." The bankruptcy filing won't affect efforts to return to regular operations and the company will respect its commitments with cargo customers. Travelers with existing tickets, vouchers and air miles can still use them.

"Given the impact that that COVID-19 generated crisis has had on the aviation industry, LATAM has been forced to make a series of extremely difficult decisions in the past few months," Alvo said in a video message Tuesday. "These have been taken with the objective of ensuring the protection of the group, continuing operations and meeting commitments."

LATAM Airlines is South America's biggest carrier by passenger traffic. It operated around 1,300 flights per day and transported a record 74 million passengers last year, according to the company's more recent annual report.

"We are focused on looking towards a post-COVID future and centered in our business's transformation," Alvo said, "so that we may adapt to a new world and a new and evolving way of flying, where the health and safety of our passengers and employees is the first priority."

ABC News' Dee Carden, Kendall Karson, Alina Lobzina, Amanda Maile, Bonnie Mclean, Sarah Shales and Eric Strauss contributed to this report.