A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1 million people worldwide.
Over 36.4 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 7.6 million diagnosed cases and at least 212,716 deaths.
California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 845,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 807,000 cases and over 726,000 cases, respectively.
More than 190 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 are being tracked by the World Health Organization, at least 10 of which are in crucial phase three studies. Of those 10 in late-stage trials, there are currently five that will be available in the United States if approved.
Here's how the news developed today. All times Eastern.
Oct 08, 2020, 2:52 PM EDT
Ohio cases on ‘concerning upward trend’
Ohio reported 1,539 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, in what the governor called the continuation of a “concerning upward trend.”
Andrew Robinson, a Kent State sophomore, takes a COVID test in Ohio, Oct. 2, 2020. The Ohio Pandemic Testing Team from the Ohio National Guard, with Kent Health Department, provide free COVID-19 test at Kent State University.
Lisa Scalfaro/Record-Courier via USA Today Networks
“Ohio’s positivity rate has jumped to 3.9% and the 7-day rolling average is 3.3%,” Gov. Mike DeWine tweeted. “This reflects the ongoing increasing trend of virus spread that we are seeing throughout the state. These numbers are not good.”
Thirteen more deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the state’s fatality total to 4,983, according to numbers released by the governor. Over 164,000 people in Ohio have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Oct 08, 2020, 11:52 AM EDT
150 million people set to fall into 'extreme poverty' due to pandemic, World Bank warns
The World Bank has warned that 150 million people could fall into "extreme poverty" by the end of 2021, due to the coronavirus pandemic and accompanying worldwide recession with the levels of poverty set to rise for the first time in 20 years.
In its biennial report on poverty and shared prosperity, the World Bank estimates between 9.1% and 9.4% of the global population would be affected by extreme poverty, which the multilateral development lender defines as living on under $1.90 a day. Had the pandemic not hit, the rate was forecast to fall to 7.9% this year.
"In order to reverse this serious setback to development progress and poverty reduction, countries will need to prepare for a different economy post-COVID, by allowing capital, labor, skills and innovation to move into new businesses and sectors," World Bank president David Malpass said in a statement Wednesday.
An woman collects fire wood as she carries her child in the Boragaon area of Guwahati, India, on June 4, 2018.
Biju Boro/AFP via Getty Images
While extreme poverty rates are on the rise, around a quarter of the world's population live on less than $3.20 per day and more than 40% live on $5.50.
Overall, levels of extreme poverty have been steadily declining over the past quarter of a decade. Some 1.9 billion people lived in extreme poverty in 1990, compared to 689 million in 2017, according to the World Bank. In addition to the coronavirus pandemic, the report cites military conflict and climate change as two significant factors behind the recent reversal.
Extreme poverty is usually most keenly felt in rural areas, but that is now spreading to urban hubs. Around 82% of the number of people forecast to slide into extreme poverty will be living in middle-income countries, according to the report.
ABC News' Guy Davies contributed to this report.
Oct 08, 2020, 11:23 AM EDT
840,000 more Americans file for unemployment insurance
Another 840,000 Americans sought unemployment insurance last week, according to the latest report from the U.S. Department of Labor released Thursday.
This week's claims do not include the most up-to-date data from California, which has temporarily stopped accepting new jobless claims in order to work through a backlog and implement fraud prevention technology, the department said. Instead, the figure from California will reflect the level reported during the week prior to the pause in new applications.
A woman checks her cell phone as she walks past a store closing sign in the Park Slope section of N.Y, Oct. 5, 2020.
Erik Pendzich/REX via Shutterstock
Still, the initial claims data reflect a labor market still suffering some six months into the coronavirus pandemic. This is the 29th straight week of weekly unemployment claims coming in above the pre-pandemic record set in 1982.
While the number of new claims has dropped slightly since peaking in late March, they have stagnated at unprecedented levels not seen prior to the COVID-19 crisis. The average for the past four weeks was 857,000 new claims per week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
ABC News' Catherine Thorbecke contributed to this report.
Oct 08, 2020, 11:08 AM EDT
COVID-19 killed more people in England and Wales this year than flu and pneumonia, data shows
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."
A patient is comforted by a radiologist in the X-ray department at the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital in Blackburn, northwest England, on May 14, 2020, as National Health Service (NHS) staff in Britain fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Hannah Mckay/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
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.
