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Coronavirus updates: State tops 14,000 deaths as restaurants reopen

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Last Updated: September 28, 2020, 11:55 AM EDT

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 987,000 people worldwide.

Over 32.4 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 criteria for diagnosis -- through clinical means or a lab test -- has varied from country-to-country. Still, the actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks.

Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the virus has rapidly spread to every continent except Antarctica.

The United States is the worst-affected country, with more than 7 million diagnosed cases and at least 203,704 deaths.

California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 803,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 751,000 cases and over 695,000 cases, respectively.

Nearly 190 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 are being tracked by the World Health Organization, at least nine of which are in crucial phase three trials.

Latest headlines:

Sep 25, 2020, 4:26 PM EDT
Florida tops 14,000 deaths as restaurants reopen
Sep 25, 2020, 10:20 AM EDT
Virginia governor and wife test positive for COVID-19
Sep 25, 2020, 5:10 AM EDT
UK sees highest single-day rise in cases amid 2nd wave

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

Sep 25, 2020, 4:25 AM EDT

US caseload edges closer to 7 million

There were 44,110 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Thursday, as the nation's cumulative total edges closer to 7 million, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Thursday'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 914 coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded Thursday, down from a peak of 2,666 new fatalities reported on April 17.

Medical technicians work at a drive-through coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing facility at the Regeneron Pharmaceuticals company's Westchester campus in Tarrytown, New York, Sept. 17, 2020.
Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters, FILE

A total of 6,978,874 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 202,818 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. The daily tally of new cases has gradually come down since then but has hovered around 40,000 in recent weeks.

An internal memo from the Federal Emergency Management Agency obtained by ABC News on Wednesday night shows that the number of new cases recorded in the United States is increasing by double digits in week-over-week comparisons, while the number of new deaths is down.