A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1.1 million people worldwide.
Over 40 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 8.1 million diagnosed cases and at least 219,674 deaths.
California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 875,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 854,000 cases and over 755,000 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.
Here's how the news developed today. All times Eastern.
Oct 19, 2020, 9:55 AM EDT
TSA screens over 1 million people for 1st time since March
More than 1 million people went through airport security checkpoints across the United States on Sunday for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
A TSA staff members wears a face mask to protect against the novel coronavirus as he walks past flight information screens at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, on Oct. 14, 2020.
Nam Y. Huh/AP
The Transportation Security Administration said it screened 1,031,505 individuals on Sunday, the most since mid-March. Although that figure is still some 60% lower than this time last year, it's a significant jump from a low of 87,534 people screened on April 14.
ABC News' Sam Sweeney contributed to this report.
Oct 19, 2020, 9:19 AM EDT
Wales to enter 2-week 'firebreak' lockdown from Friday
Wales will become the second nation in the United Kingdom to enter a lockdown to combat a second wave of COVID-19 infections.
The Welsh government announced on Monday its decision to impose a two-week "firebreak," beginning Friday at 6 p.m. Everyone will be required to stay home and non-essential businesses, such as bars, gyms, restaurants and retail shops, must close until Nov. 9. There will be exceptions for critical workers and those who cannot do their jobs from home.
A social distancing sign is seen in the coastal town of Llandudno, north Wales, on Oct. 19, 2020, as the Welsh government is set to impose stricter lockdown measures to try to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Carl Recine/Reuters
Libraries and places of worship will also be shut down across the country.
"This is the shortest we can make it, but that means it needs to be sharp and deep to have the impact against the virus we need it to have," Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said Monday.
Northern Ireland started a "circuit breaker" lockdown last Friday, closing schools for two weeks while banning most social gatherings and shutting down many business for a month.
Oct 19, 2020, 8:28 AM EDT
Top Palestinian official battling COVID-19 in 'critical' condition
Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat was placed in a medically induced coma and is listed in critical condition at an Israeli hospital, where he's being treated for COVID-19 complications.
Erekat was transported by ambulance from his home in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem on Sunday, more than a week after he had announced testing positive for COVID-19. The 65-year-old has a history of health problems and received a lung transplant in the United States in 2017.
"Mr. Erekat had a quiet night but this morning his condition deteriorated, which is now defined as critical, and due to respiratory distress, he was resuscitated and placed under general anesthesia," Hadar Elboim, a spokesperson for Hadassah Medical Center, told ABC News in a statement Monday.
A view of the entrance of the shock and trauma unit at the emergency medicine center of Hadassah University Hospital-Ein Kerem in Jerusalem, Israel, on Oct. 19, 2020. Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat was listed in "critical" condition and in a medically induced coma, according to a Hadassah Medical Center spokesperson.
Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
"Mr. Erekat poses a huge challenge to the treatment of corona as he is lung transplanted with suppression of the immune system, and with bacterial infection in addition to corona," Elboim added. "Hadassah, with its most senior professional physicians, is in international medical contact regarding the policy of treating such a complex patient. Hadassah will continue to update his family as usual regarding his condition and will update the Palestinian Authority as he is a senior official there."
Erekat, who serves as the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, is one of the most senior advisors to the Palestinian president. He is a longtime proponent of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
ABC News' Nasser Atta contributed to this report.
Oct 19, 2020, 8:02 AM EDT
New York Gov. Cuomo 'not that confident' in FDA's vaccine approval process
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he's not confident in the Food and Drug Administration's approval process for a COVID-19 vaccine, and that the American public shouldn't be either.
"I'm not that confident, but my opinion doesn't matter. I don't believe the American people are that confident," Cuomo told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview Monday on "Good Morning America."
"I think it's going to be a very skeptical American public about taking the vaccine, and they should be," he added.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo appears on "Good Morning America," Oct. 19, 2020.
ABC News
Cuomo said he plans to assemble a group of doctors and medical experts to review any COVID-19 vaccine approved by the FDA before affirming its efficacy and safety for New York state residents.
"But I believe all across the country you're going to need someone other than this FDA and this CDC saying it's safe," he said, before adding that the two federal agencies don't "have any credibility."
The New York governor also expressed concern over comments Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, made during an interview that aired Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes," in which he admitted that the White House has restricted "many, many, many" of his media appearances since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
"You have Dr. Fauci now saying that they basically tried to muzzle him," Cuomo said. "He has the highest credibility in the nation on this issue."
