Coronavirus updates: Birx warns of 'very different' spread of COVID-19

The U.S. government is giving AstraZeneca $486 million to develop and manufacture its monoclonal antibody cocktail.

The Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense announced the agreement with the pharmaceutical company on Friday.

AstraZeneca will launch two phase 3 trials to study its monoclonal antibodies as a way to prevent COVID-19 infection. The company is also in the middle of a phase 3 trial for a COVID-19 vaccine.

"In addition to Operation Warp Speed's historic progress on vaccines, we are supporting promising monoclonal antibodies for prevention and treatment all the way through to supply, allowing faster distribution if trials are successful," HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement.

Monoclonal antibodies are considered a "bridge" to a vaccine because they have the potential to work as both a treatment for people who are already sick and as short-term protection for those who have not yet been infected. 

At least four large pharmaceutical companies are now in late-stage trials for monoclonal antibodies, including Regeneron, which makes the experimental monoclonal antibody cocktail President Donald Trump received on a compassionate use basis as part of his COVID-19 treatment. 

ABC News' Chris Howell and Sony Salzman contributed to this report.

There have been positive tests for COVID-19 at the small private school in South Bend, Indiana, that some of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s children attend, Trinity School confirmed to ABC News.

The president of Trinity Schools, Jon Balsbaugh, declined to address specifics of the positive tests. A teacher and two students tested positive, according to The New York Times.

In a statement, Balsbaugh said that the school's coronavirus measures include a mix of remote and in-person learning, mask usage indoors and outdoors when social distancing cannot be maintained, daily health checks and temperature screenings, and "rigorous contract tracing protocols" in the event of a positive case.

Barrett brought her family to the White House last month when President Donald Trump announced her nomination to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Over a dozen attendees of the Sept. 26 Rose Garden event have since tested positive for COVID-19 in what Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, called a "superspreader event" in an interview with CBS News Radio on Friday.

ABC News' Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said Friday that it's extending waivers that allow school meals to be free for all students through the rest of the 2020-2021 school year.

Schools will be able to continue providing meals to students who are not physically in school, including allowing parents to pick up meals at no cost.

“As our nation recovers and reopens, we want to ensure that children continue to receive the nutritious breakfasts and lunches they count on during the school year wherever they are, and however they are learning,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said in a statement.

ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs contributed to this report.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday announced a new record high of daily COVID-19 cases worldwide, according to The Associated Press.

WHO officials said 350,766 new cases were reported, which is a jump of almost 12,000 cases from the record set earlier in the week, according to the AP.