A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has killed over 1 million people worldwide.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1 million people worldwide.
Over 35.6 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 7.4 million diagnosed cases and at least 210,774 deaths.
California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 837,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 798,000 cases and over 720,000 cases, respectively.
More than 190 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 are being tracked by the World Health Organization, at least seven of which are in crucial phase three trials.
Cruise lines around the world have agreed to test all passengers and crew, if the ship carries 250 or more passengers.
The new policy goes into effect immediately.
“This is a travel industry first and an example of the cruise industry leading the way,” Cruise Lines International Association said in a statement.
There were 14,542 new cases of COVID-19 and 76 fatalities confirmed in the United Kingdom over the past 24 hours.
The latest daily tally is just short of the record set over the weekend when Public Health England revealed that 15,841 cases between Sept. 25 and Oct. 2 were not included in the United Kingdom's reported daily case counts due to a technical issue. The unreported cases were added retroactively to reach Saturday's count of 12,872 new case and Sunday's 22,961 -- the country's highest single-day rise yet.
The cumulative total is now at 530,113 cases with 42,445 deaths, according to the latest data from the U.K. government.
The United Kingdom is among a handful of European countries grappling with an uptick in COVID-19 cases, as a second wave of infections hits the region. More than 1,000 students and staff at two U.K. universities -- 583 at the University of Sheffield and 433 at the University of Nottingham -- are currently isolating after testing positive for COVID-19.
ABC News' Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) now predicts a 9.2% drop in global merchandise trade this year.
The Geneva-based trade body released the estimate Tuesday, revising its forecast in April of a 12.9% decline this year, following "strong trade performance in June and July."
The WTO also now expects a 7.2% rise in merchandise trade next year, compared to the previous estimate of 21.3% growth.
"Whether the recovery can be sustained over the medium term will depend on the strength of investment and employment," the WTO cautioned. "Both could be undermined if confidence is dented by new outbreaks of COVID-19, which might force governments to impose additional lockdowns."
There are 15 clinical trials of potential COVID-19 vaccines underway across the African continent, according to a comment by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was published Tuesday in the journal Nature.
Five trials are being carried out in South Africa, four in Egypt and one each in Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
"We’ve seen a scramble for access to therapies before," the Nature comment said. "It happened with HIV and H5N1 influenza, for example. And Africa has ended up at the end of the queue every time. Yet the global economy depends on the continent for its exports of raw materials, food, energy and labour."
"This experience -- and the fact that other infectious diseases will surely emerge -- is why Africa needs a coordinated strategy to develop, finance, manufacture and deliver vaccines across the continent," the comment added.
For the past few months, the Africa CDC has been working with African leaders and global health officials on a "whole of Africa" coordinated approach to do just that.
"Infectious agents span the globe in weeks: vaccinating people on one continent is essential to the health, wealth and well-being of those on the others," the Nature comment said. "No region can be immune until a meaningful and equitable share of the world’s population is protected -- by the tenets of good basic public health as well as a vaccine."
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 1.5 million people across the African continent have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and nearly 37,000 of them have died. South Africa accounts for nearly half of all confirmed cases on the continent, according to the latest data from the Africa CDC.
