Coronavirus updates: Trump can return to 'public engagements' Saturday, doctor says

The disease caused by the novel coronavirus killed three times more people in England and Wales during the first eight months of this year than influenza and pneumonia combined, according to new data released Thursday by the U.K. Office for National Statistics (ONS).

"More than three times as many deaths were recorded between January and August this year where COVID-19 was the underlying cause compared to influenza and pneumonia," Sarah Caul, head of mortality analysis at the ONS, said in a statement. "The mortality rate for COVID-19 is also significantly higher than influenza and pneumonia rates for both 2020 and the five-year average."

The highest number of deaths due to influenza and pneumonia occurred in January; however, deaths from influenza and pneumonia were below the five-year average -- 2015 to 2019 -- in every month of 2020, according to the ONS.

"Since 1959, which is when ONS monthly death records began, the number of deaths due to influenza and pneumonia in the first eight months of every year have been lower than the number of COVID-19 deaths seen, so far, in 2020," Caul said.

Meanwhile, the proportion of deaths occurring in care homes due to COVID-19 -- 30% -- was almost double the proportion of deaths due to influenza and pneumonia -- 15.2%, according to the ONS.

The U.K. agency noted that its analysis of COVID-19, influenza and pneumonia deaths focused on fatalities where people died due to those conditions, rather than deaths where the conditions were either the underlying cause or mentioned as a contributing factor.

The number of current hospitalizations in Oklahoma due to COVID-19 has soared to a new record one-day high.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health on Wednesday reported 738 people hospitalized with either confirmed or possible cases of the disease.

Since the start of the pandemic, at least 94,352 people in Oklahoma have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and 1,075 of them have died, according to the state health department data.

Hundreds of students at the University of New Haven have been ordered to quarantine amid a COVID-19 outbreak on campus.

Since the start of the month, the private university in Connecticut has identified 24 positive cases of COVID-19, at least 19 of which were confirmed this week. In a letter to students Wednesday, university officials explained that a "critical mass" of those cases are clustered in the school's Winchester Hall dormitory, prompting them to impose a "full-building quarantine" until Oct. 20.

Currently, 280 students are being quarantined on campus and nearly 70 are quarantining off campus, according to the letter.

"We must reverse this trend immediately," the letter said. "Candidly, much of this could have been avoided if everyone had followed the regulations in place."

Since the beginning of the fall semester, the university has investigated almost 300 reports of alleged COVID-19 policy violations and has handed down more than 150 disciplinary sanctions, ranging form warnings to housing suspensions.

"Any significant increase in cases could threaten our ability to continue on-campus operations or force us to, as other schools in Connecticut and across to country have had to do -- transition to completely online learning," the letter warned. "That is an outcome none of us want to see."

Germany confirmed 4,058 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, an increase of 1,230 from the previous day, marking the country's highest daily caseload since April.

An additional 16 coronavirus-related deaths were also recorded Wednesday. The cumulative total now stands at 310,144 cases with 9,578 deaths, according to the latest data from the country's public health institute.

The number of daily cases recorded in Germany reached almost 7,000 during the height of the pandemic at the end of March and in early April. Although the figures have fallen significantly since then, Germany's infections have been on the rise in recent months amid a second wave across Europe.

Earlier this week, the German government announced new curfews for bars, cafes, pubs and restaurants in the capital Berlin and financial hub Frankfurt, along with stricter rules on social gatherings.