Coronavirus updates: Fauci calls 'herd immunity' declaration 'ridiculous'

"This idea that we have the power to protect the vulnerable is total nonsense."

ByMorgan Winsor and Karma Allen
Video byJessie DiMartino
Last Updated: October 21, 2020, 5:00 AM EDT

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1 million people worldwide.

Over 38.8 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 7.9 million diagnosed cases and at least 217,721 deaths.

California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 866,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 836,000 cases and over 744,000 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 potential vaccines in late-stage trials, there are currently five that will be available in the United States if approved.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news developed today. All times Eastern.
Oct 15, 2020, 12:03 PM EDT

El Paso announces restrictions as area cases rise

Officials in El Paso, Texas, announced new activity restrictions to slow the spread of the virus as new cases and hospitalizations rose to an all-time high.

The city reported 717 new cases and 20 delayed testing results on Thursday, bringing the total number of active cases to 6,887. Health officials also announced an additional death, bringing the total number of fatalities to 554. The patient was described as a male in his 80s with health conditions.

"Today’s spike is part of an overall increase in cases seen over the last week due to community spread believed to be caused by COVID-19 fatigue resulting in residents letting their guard down," city officials tweeted Thursday. "For this reason, the Mayor and City Attorney’s Office are working with the Department of Public Health (DPH) and Office of Emergency Management to further restrict activities in our community to slow the spread. These strong restrictions are necessary and must be enacted."

Oct 15, 2020, 10:54 AM EDT

Hong Kong, Singapore announce forthcoming 'travel bubble' 

Officials in Hong Kong and Singapore announced an agreement to establish a bilateral Air Travel Bubble in an effort to revive cross-border air travel between the two aviation hubs.

Citing low incidents of COVID-19 infections and 'robust' anti-transmission mechanisms, Singapore's Transport Minister Ong Ye said it is a "safe, careful but significant step forward to revive air travel, and provide a model for future collaboration with other parts of the world."

Hong Kong and Singapore are both major financial hubs, and the international air route between the two cities was among the busiest in the Asia-Pacific region before the pandemic took shape, officials said in a statement. 

They did not offer details about a potential launch date. 

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

Oct 15, 2020, 10:05 AM EDT

Harris shuts down travel after 2 test positive

The Biden campaign has announced that two people traveling with Sen. Harris in Arizona, Communications Director Liz Allen, and a non-staff flight crew member, have tested positive for COVID-19

“Senator Harris was not in close contact, as defined by the CDC, with either of these individuals during the two days prior to their positive tests; as such, there is no requirement for quarantine," Jennifer O'Malley Dillon, Biden's campaign manager, said in a statement.

“Neither of these people have had contact with Vice President Biden, Senator Harris or any other staffers since testing positive or in the 48 hours prior to their positive test results," she added.

The campaign is canceling Harris' travel through Sunday "out of an abundance of caution and in line with our campaign's commitment to the highest levels of precaution."

Harris will return to in-person campaigning on Monday.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle contributed to this report.

Oct 15, 2020, 9:41 AM EDT

898,000 more Americans file for unemployment benefits

The U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday that another 898,000 people filed first-time jobless claims last week, highlighting how new layoffs are persisting at historical highs more than six months since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Last week's initial unemployment claims tally also shows a concerning spike of more than 53,000 compared to the previous week's revised figure.

The total number of people in the United States claiming state and federal unemployment benefits topped 25.2 million for the week ending Sept. 26. In comparison, 1.4 million people claimed benefits for the same week last year, according to the Labor Department.

The DC Department of Employment Services, which handles unemployment claims for DC residents, is seen in Washington, D.C, July 16, 2020.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images, FILE

The U.S. states that saw the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Oct. 3 were Florida, Illinois and Massachusetts. New Jersey, Kansas and Pennsylvania saw the largest decreases during that same time, the Labor Department said.

The level of new weekly unemployment claims has stagnated near the 850,000 mark for the past few weeks, a significant drop from when they peaked at 6.9 million in the last week of March. For context, the previous record for weekly unemployment claims was 695,000 in 1982 -- a record that has been shattered for 30 straight weeks in 2020.

ABC News' Catherine Thorbecke and Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.

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