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Coronavirus updates: Delta puts 460 people on 'no-fly list' over mask violations

"A mask is among the simplest and most effective actions," Delta's CEO said.

ByMorgan Winsor and Emily Shapiro
Last Updated: October 25, 2020, 12:19 PM EDT

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1.1 million people worldwide.

Over 42 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 8.4 million diagnosed cases and at least 223,730 deaths.

California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 894,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 871,000 cases and over 771,000 cases, respectively.

Nearly 200 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 23, 2020, 7:32 AM EDT

A quarter of US hospitals have 80% of ICU beds full, HHS memo says

A quarter of hospitals across the United States have intensive care units that are more than 80% occupied, according to an internal memo from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that was obtained by ABC News on Thursday night.

That figure is up from the summertime peak, when 17-18% of U.S. hospitals had 80% of ICU beds full.

The memo, which is circulated among the highest levels of the federal government and is used to determine daily priorities for the agencies working on a COVID-19 response, said 41 U.S. states and territories are in an upward trajectory of new infections, while five jurisdictions are at a plateau and nine others are in a downward trend.

There were 417,899 new cases confirmed during the period of Oct. 15-21, a 14% increase from the previous week. There were also 5,413 fatalities from COVID-19 recorded during the same period, a 10.6% increase compared with the week prior, according to the memo.

Meanwhile, the national positivity rate for COVID-19 tests increased from 5.1% to 5.8% in week-to-week comparisons, the memo said.

A sign outside the Curb Event Center at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, tells visitors to wear face masks as preparations take place for the second presidential debate on Oct. 20, 2020.
Patrick Semansky/AP

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Alaska reached a four-month peak, with the state's daily average increasing to 8.5 hospitalizations per 100,000 people during the period of Oct. 12-18, compared to 5.9 per 100,000 the previous week. Adults in their 20s and 30s were said to be driving the state's outbreak, according to the memo.

Idaho's positivity rate for COVID-19 tests increased to 16.7% during the week ending Oct.14, more than triple the national rate of 5.4% for that time period. The state's ICU hospitalizations related to COVID-19 reached a record high of 61 patients on Oct. 15, the memo said.

Montana reported 393 new cases per 100,000 people in the last week, more than triple the national average of 117 per 100,000. The state has the third-highest rate of new infections in the country, according to the memo.

COVID-19 hospitalizations in New Mexico increased by 101% in the first half of October. The state reported a 51.9% jump in new cases and a 21.1% increase in new deaths in the week ending Oct. 18, compared to the prior week, the memo said.

Oklahoma saw a record high of 821 COVID-19 hospitalizations on Oct. 20, according to the memo.

Wearing a face mask to protect against COVID-19, volunteer Scot Wingo grabs bags of food to distribute with others during a North Texas Food Bank drive-thru event in Dallas, Texas, on Oct. 22, 2020.
LM Otero/AP

In Oregon, cases are at the highest point they have been since the start of the pandemic, the memo said.

South Dakota has the second-highest rate of new cases in the country and the fourth-highest test positivity rate. The test positivity rate is on the rise in 45 counties, suggesting it has not yet peaked. Out of all South Dakota counties, 82% have moderate or high levels of community transmission, with 71% having high levels of community transmission, according to the memo.

Tennessee reported 3,317 new cases on Oct. 19, its highest single-day increase to date. The previous record of 3,314 new cases was reported on July 13.

Texas's cumulative total of cases surpassed 800,000 on Oct. 13, becoming only the second state in the country to do so.

ABC News' Josh Margolin contributed to this report.

Oct 23, 2020, 6:54 AM EDT

US reports over 70,000 new cases for 1st time since July

There were 71,671 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Thursday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

It's the highest daily tally the country has reported since mid-July, almost surpassing the national record of more than 77,000 new cases in a single day. The latest case count was also nearly 9,000 more than the previous day.

An additional 856 fatalities from COVID-19 were also registered nationwide Thursday, down by from a peak of 2,666 new deaths in mid-April.

PHOTO: A man walks past a mural by the artist who goes by the name "Pure Genius" depicting U.S. President Donald Trump as the Grim Reaper on a wall on Houston Street in New York City on Oct. 20, 2020.
A man walks past a mural by the artist who goes by the name "Pure Genius" depicting U.S. President Donald Trump as the Grim Reaper on a wall on Houston Street in New York City on Oct. 20, 2020. The latest numbers show COVID-19 cases continuing to increase across much of the United States.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

A total of 8,409,312 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 223,051 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.

By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country's cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up and crossing 70,000 for the first time in mid-July.

The daily tally of new cases has gradually come down since then but has started to climb again in recent weeks and is now averaging around 60,000 per day.

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