Coronavirus news: US daily death toll shoots back up over 1,000

Eight senior executives with the Food and Drug Administration joined forces Thursday to reiterate the agency's commitment to maintaining independence and following "scientific evidence" amid the ongoing pandemic.

"Maintaining the American public’s trust in the FDA is vital. If the agency’s credibility is lost because of real or perceived interference, people will not rely on the agency’s safety warnings," the executives wrote in a USA Today op-ed published Thursday. "Erosion of public trust will leave consumers and patients doubting our recommendations, less likely to enroll in clinical studies or to use FDA-regulated products when they should to maintain or improve their health."

They added: "This is problematic under normal circumstances but especially if we are to ultimately overcome COVID-19. Protecting the FDA’s independence is essential if we are to do the best possible job of protecting public health and saving lives."

The executives, who oversee various FDA centers around the county, said the agency is committed to providing science-based regulations and safety protocols despite operating "in a political environment" during the pandemic.

"We absolutely understand that the FDA, like other federal executive agencies, operates in a political environment. That is a reality that we must navigate adeptly while maintaining our independence to ensure the best possible outcomes for public health," the executives wrote. "When it comes to decisions to authorize or approve the products we regulate, or to take appropriate action when we uncover safety issues, we and our career staff do the best by public health when we are the decision-makers, arriving at those decisions based on our unbiased evaluation of the scientific evidence."

The extradition hearing for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been brought to a halt in London after it was revealed that a lawyer representing the U.S. government may have been exposed to COVID-19 and was being tested.

Judge Vanessa Baraitser agreed to a request from Assange's defense team to adjourn the hearing until the attorney in question, who hasn't been identified, had received the test results.

"Last night, I was informed that one of the barristers in the case may have been exposed to the virus," Baraitser said at London's Old Bailey court on Thursday. "I am told the testing process will be known at some time tomorrow. Whilst the situation is uncertain the hearing should be adjourned until the
outcome is known."

The judge asked both parties for submissions on what to do next if the test comes back positive.

Assange, 49, is accused of conspiring to hack into U.S. government computers and violating an espionage law for releasing documents through WikiLeaks in 2010-2011. If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to 175 years in prison.

The Australian native was arrested in April 2019 at Ecuador's embassy in London, where had been holed up for almost seven years to avoid extradition.

Nearly 70% of inmates at a jail in central Virginia have tested positive for COVID-19 so far.

The Pamunkey Regional Jail in Hanover, some 20 miles north of Richmond, announced in a press release Wednesday that 124 of 178 inmates who have been tested for COVID-19 have received positive results. Moreover, 20 of 129 staff members who were tested also had positive results.

The jail has a total population of 380 inmates, who will now all be tested for COVID-19, according to a report by Richmond ABC affiliate WRIC.

The jail said the vast majority of those infected were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms. To date, there have been no hospitalizations or deaths.

"Immediately upon receiving offender results on Monday afternoon, affected individuals were identified and isolated from the general population," the Pamunkey Regional Jail said in the statement. "In an abundance of caution, the jail facility remains on lockdown, pending additional offender testing in collaboration with health department officials."

The jail said it was informed of the first pair of positive COVID-19 cases among its staff on Aug. 20 -- two employees who were immediately instructed to self-isolate. The third positive case was a jail contractor on Aug. 28, followed by a fourth employee on Aug. 31. Each case was individually reported to the local health department.

The first inmate to test positive for COVID-19 was on Sept. 3, after being isolated with cold-like symptoms within the facility for over a week. The local health department then arranged for all jail staff to be tested and performed testing among inmates "in areas where deemed necessary," according to jail officials.

"All affected employees were placed on emergency paid leave, and all offenders continue to be appropriately treated by medical staff, who provide 24/7 on-site patient care," the jail said.

The French government will continue paying up to 84% of salaries for furloughed workers "until next summer" due to prolonged economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, labor minister Elisabeth Borne announced Thursday on France's BFM television.

France has already spent tens of billions of euros on the temporary unemployment scheme since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, in an effort to save jobs. Last week, the government unveiled a 100 billion euro (approximately $118 billion) stimulus plan to help revive its hard-hit economy.

France, along with other European nations, has seen a rise in COVID-19 infections in recent weeks, as people returned to work and school.

France's national public health agency reported 8,577 new cases on Wednesday, the country's second-highest daily increase in COVID-19 infections so far, bringing its cumulative total to 344,101 cases with 30,794 deaths.

ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud contributed to this report.