Coronavirus news: State reaches 1 month with infection rate below 1%

Northeastern University said it has "dismissed" 11 students after they were found defying the school’s coronavirus-related restrictions.

The students, who were enrolled in the N.U.in Program, a study-abroad experience for first-year students, were found together in a room at the Westin Hotel in Boston on Wednesday night, in violation of university and public health protocols that prohibit crowd gatherings. More than 800 students are staying in two-person rooms at the hotel, less than one mile from the school’s main campus in Boston, as part of the program which was modified due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a press release from Northeastern University.

The school said it has informed the 11 students "that they are no longer part of the Northeastern community for the fall semester." The school noted that the students "have the right to contest their dismissal at an expedited hearing."

The students and their parents were informed Friday that they must vacate the hotel within 24 hours and that they are required to undergo COVID-19 testing on campus before departing.

"Northeastern and its community of students, faculty, and staff take violations of health and safety protocols very seriously," Madeleine Estabrook, senior vice chancellor for student affairs at Northeastern University, said in a statement Friday. "Cooperation and compliance with public health guidelines is absolutely essential. Those people who do not follow the guidelines -- including wearing masks, avoiding parties and other gatherings, practicing healthy distancing, washing your hands, and getting tested -- are putting everyone else at risk."

"Testing negative for COVID-19 is not enough," she added.

There were 31,395 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Sunday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Sunday’s tally is well below the country’s record set on July 16, when there were 77,255 new cases in a 24-hour-reporting period.

An additional 403 coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded Sunday, the country’s lowest daily death toll since Aug. 2 and down from a peak of 2,666 new fatalities reported on April 17.

A total of 6,277,005 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 188,941 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.

An internal memo from the Federal Emergency Management Agency obtained by ABC News last week shows the number of new COVID-19 cases in the United States has ticked upward while new deaths has decreased in week-over-week comparisons.

New York University said it has already suspended more than 20 students for violating its coronavirus-related health and safety rules.

"Please don’t be next," the school warned in a post on Twitter over the weekend. "Avoid parties and bars. Wear a mask. Keep your distance."

The private research university in New York City welcomed students back for the fall semester just last week, with both in-person and remote classes. The school has urged students to stay away from gatherings where people aren’t wearing face masks or practicing social distancing, even at off-campus private residences.

In a message sent to students on Sunday, New York University’s senior vice president for student affairs, Marc Wais, said they "have received reports and videos of large crowds of young people gathering in Washington Square Park" in Lower Manhattan the previous night, "with some people not wearing masks or distancing."

"The expectations we have set for NYU students apply both on-campus and off-campus," Wais said. "We are investigating the circumstances from last night and any students who have violated our expectations will be subject to disciplinary action."

Wais has previously said that a student will likely be suspended for one academic semester if they are found to have participated in a gathering that impacts the community’s health and safety, including by violating public health guidelines. If a student is found to be the instigator of a party that impacts the community’s health and safety, they will likely be suspended for the full academic year. Other disciplinary actions may include restriction from campus, immediate removal from the residence halls and cancellation of the housing license, according to Wais.

India became the second worst-hit country by the coronavirus pandemic on Monday, as its cumulative total of COVID-19 cases surpassed that of Brazil.

India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare confirmed 90,802 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, pushing the national tally to over 4.2 million. The country has been recording the highest daily caseload in the world for nearly a month.

India’s tally is now only behind the United States, which has more than 6.2 million diagnosed cases of COVID-19. Brazil has the third highest total with more than 4.1 million cases, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

The Indian health ministry also reported 1,016 coronavirus-related fatalities in the past day, bringing the nation’s death toll to 71,642. The COVID-19 death toll in the United States is more than double that in India.