A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 942,000 people worldwide.
Over 30 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 6.6 million diagnosed cases and at least 197,397 deaths.
California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 773,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 697,000 cases and over 674,000 cases, respectively.
Nearly 170 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 are being tracked by the World Health Organization, at least six of which are in crucial phase three trials.
Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.
Sep 17, 2020, 12:21 PM EDT
HHS Secretary to testify before Congress on Oct. 2
Alex Azar, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, will testify before a House select subcommittee on Oct. 2 about the response to the pandemic.
This will be his first appearance before Congress since February.
According to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, "The hearing will examine the Trump Administration’s unprecedented political interference in the work of scientists and public health experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration, the Administration’s refusal to provide accurate and clear public health information, and the failure of the Administration to develop and implement a comprehensive national plan to contain the coronavirus, more than eight months into this public health emergency."
ABC News' Mariam Khan contributed to this report.
Sep 17, 2020, 11:15 AM EDT
New York City again delays start of in-person classes for most students
Three days before public schools in New York City were slated to reopen for in-person learning, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new timetable.
"It involves several phases," de Blasio said at a press conference Thursday.
Students in pre-K, 3-K and special education programs will resume in-person learning Monday, as scheduled. Those in K-5 and K-8 schools will now return to physical classrooms on Sept. 29, while middle and high schools won't open until Oct. 1.
School Safety Officers check a teacher's temperature for safety reasons outside a school building, as preparations begin for the delayed start of the school year, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Brooklyn, New York, Sept. 14, 2020.
Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters
Remote learning will begin citywide Monday for those whose in-person start dates have been pushed back.
It's the second time the mayor has delayed the start of in-person classes amid the coronavirus pandemic. De Blasio said his colleagues had reached out to him with "real concerns."
"They acknowledged progress has been made but more had to be done to make sure that things would be as strong as they needed to be," he said.
ABC News' Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
Sep 17, 2020, 9:58 AM EDT
150 million more children in poverty due to COVID-19, report says
The coronavirus crisis has pushed 150 million more children into poverty, according to an analysis published Wednesday night by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the U.K.-based charity Save the Children.
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of children living in deprivation in low- and middle-income countries has increased by 15% to approximately 1.2 billion. The multidimensional poverty analysis used data on access to education, health care, housing, nutrition, sanitation and water from more than 70 countries.
Although the report already paints a dire picture, UNICEF warned the situation will likely worsen in the coming months.
"COVID-19 and the lockdown measures imposed to prevent its spread have pushed millions of children deeper into poverty," UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore said in a statement Wednesday. "Families on the cusp of escaping poverty have been pulled back in, while others are experiencing levels of deprivation they have never seen before. Most concerningly, we are closer to the beginning of this crisis than its end."
A woman and a girl are seen next to a tent set up in land occupied by homeless people outside Guernica in the province of Buenos Aires, south of Argentina's capital, on Aug. 28, 2020, amid rising poverty in an economic crisis exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images
The analysis noted that not only are more children across the globe experiencing poverty than before, but the poorest children are getting poorer as well.
UNICEF and Save the Children said they are both committed to continue to monitor the situation while working with governments and civil society to confront it.
"This pandemic has already caused the biggest global education emergency in history, and the increase in poverty will make it very hard for the most vulnerable children and their families to make up for the loss," Save the Children International CEO Inger Ashing said in a statement Wednesday. "Children who lose out on education are more likely to be forced into child labour or early marriage and be trapped in a cycle of poverty for years to come. We cannot afford to let a whole generation of children become victims of this pandemic. National governments and the international community must step up to soften the blow."
ABC News' Dragana Jovanovic contributed to this report.
Sep 17, 2020, 9:24 AM EDT
860,000 Americans filed jobless claims last week
Some 860,000 Americans lost their jobs and filed for unemployment insurance last week, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.
The latest tally shows that the nationwide number of new jobless claims have dropped significantly since peaking at 6.9 million in the last week of March. Still, the figure shatters the pre-pandemic weekly record set in 1982 of 695,000.
A woman looks at clothes at a clothing store in New York, Sept. 4, 2020.
Chine Nouvelle/SIPA/REX via Shutterstock
More than 29 million people across the country are currently receiving unemployment benefits under state and federal programs, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
ABC News' Catherine Thorbecke and Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.
