Coronavirus updates: New cases, deaths see double-digit increases in past week

The numbers of cases nationally grew 22.7% week over week.

ByMorgan Winsor and Emily Shapiro
Video byJessie DiMartino
Last Updated: October 28, 2020, 4:12 PM EDT

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

Over 43.8 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.

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 8.7 million diagnosed cases and at least 226,606 deaths.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news developed today. All times Eastern.
Oct 27, 2020, 9:23 AM EDT

Indian minister says he's been hospitalized after testing positive

India's Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said Tuesday that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and, per doctors' recommendations, has been hospitalized for a few days.

"Those who have come in contact with me are advised to get COVID-19 tests done," Athawale wrote on his official Twitter account.

A health worker takes a nasal swab sample at a COVID-19 testing center in Hyderabad, India, on Oct. 27, 2020.
Mahesh Kumar A./AP

It's the latest Indian minister to contract the virus, as the country's cumulative case count nears 8 million. Only the United States has a higher tally of diagnosed cases.

The Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare confirmed 36,470 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, the lowest single-day tally since mid-July. The ministry also registered another 488 fatalities from COVID-19, bringing the country's death toll to 119,502.

Oct 27, 2020, 8:24 AM EDT

Violent protests erupt in Italy over new restrictions

Protesters took to the streets in Milan, Turin and several other Italian cities on Monday in anger over the latest COVID-19 restrictions, which have shuttered cinemas, gyms and other leisure venues and have forced cafes and restaurants to close early.

People protest against the government's new restrictions to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in Castello square in Turin, Italy, on Oct. 26, 2020.
Massimo Pinca/Reuters

The protests, at times, turned violent as some people smashed storefront windows, looted shops, set fires and hurled objects at police, who used tear gas to clear the tumultuous crowds.

PHOTO: Smoke billows as clashes broke out during a protest against the government's new measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Turin, Italy, on Oct. 26, 2020.
Smoke billows as clashes broke out during a protest against the government's new measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Turin, Italy, on Oct. 26, 2020. Protesters turned out by the hundreds in several Italian cities and towns to vent anger, sometimes violently, over the latest COVID-19 restrictions, which force cafes and restaurants to close early and shutter cinema, gyms and other leisure venues.
Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP

A number of people were detained overnight in connection to the violence and vandalism in various cities and towns. More than two dozen people were reportedly arrested in Milan alone.

A police officer stands in front of a damaged storefront as people protest against the government's new restrictions to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in Turin, Italy, on Oct. 26, 2020.
Massimo Pinca/Reuters

Italy, once the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, has seen an increase in infections in recent weeks. Over the weekend, the country's civil protection agency confirmed a record 21,273 new cases of COVID-19. As of Monday night, the cumulative total was 542,789 cases with 37,479 deaths.

ABC News' Clark Bentson and Phoebe Natanson contributed to this report.

Oct 27, 2020, 7:22 AM EDT

Study stops using Eli Lilly's antibody treatment for COVID-19 patients due to 'lack of clinical benefit'

Researchers have stopped testing a combination of remedesivir with one of Eli Lilly and Company's experimental antibody treatments in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, after an independent review of results found a "lack of clinical benefit."

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is funding the clinical trial, said in a statement Monday that it plans to test other experimental drugs as COVID-19 treatments in the study.

PHOTO: In this May 2020 file photo provided by Eli Lilly and Company, a researcher tests possible COVID-19 antibodies in a laboratory in Indianapolis, Indiana.
In this May 2020 file photo provided by Eli Lilly and Company, a researcher tests possible COVID-19 antibodies in a laboratory in Indianapolis, Indiana. On Oct. 26, U.S. government officials announced they are putting an early end to a study testing one of Eli Lilly's monoclonal antibody drugs for people hospitalized with COVID-19 because it doesn't seem to help.
David Morrison/Eli Lilly and Company via AP

Eli Lilly and Company said that all other studies of its monoclonal antibody drug, bamlanivimab, will continue, including one in recently diagnosed COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate cases and another in people at risk of infection.

"While there was insufficient evidence that bamlanivimab improved clinical outcomes when added to other treatments in hospitalized patients with COVID-19, we remain confident based on data from Lilly’s BLAZE-1 study that bamlanivimab monotherapy may prevent progression of disease for those earlier in the course of COVID-19," Eli Lilly and Company said in a statement Monday.

Earlier this month, the Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical company asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to authorize emergency use of bamlanivimab in non-hospitalized individuals with mild to moderate cases of COVID-19.

Oct 27, 2020, 6:00 AM EDT

Russia imposes nationwide mask mandate as daily death toll reaches all-time high

Russia registered 320 more deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, setting a new national record, according to the country's coronavirus response headquarters.

The country's previous record of 317 deaths in a 24-hour reporting period was set less than a week ago.

An additional 16,550 new cases of COVID-19 were also confirmed in the past day, down from a peak of 17,347 the day prior, according to Russia's coronavirus response headquarters.

A man wearing a face mask to protect against the novel coronavirus walks past a monument depicting Russian poet Alexander Pushkin in central Moscow, Russia, on Oct. 26, 2020.
Yuri Kadobnov/AFP via Getty Images

Moscow remains the epicenter of the country's outbreak and recent surge. More than 26% of the new cases -- 4,312 -- and over 19% of the new deaths -- 61 -- were reported in the capital.

The nationwide, cumulative total now stands at 1,547,774 cases with 26,589 deaths, according to Russia's coronavirus response headquarters.

After record increases in new infections and deaths, Russia’s health and consumer rights regulator, Rospotrebnadzor, issued a decree on Tuesday introducing a nationwide mask mandate and ordering all clubs, bars, restaurants and other entertainment venues to be closed between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Russian authorities have repeatedly said they will not impose another nationwide lockdown.

The Eastern European country of 145 million people has the fourth-highest tally of COVID-19 cases in the world, behind only the United States, India and Brazil, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

ABC News' Alina Lobzina contributed to this report.

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