Coronavirus updates: Barron Trump also tested positive for COVID, Melania says

Melania Trump said she and her son have now tested negative.

Last Updated: October 21, 2020, 5:01 AM EDT

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1 million people worldwide.

Over 38.4 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 7.9 million diagnosed cases and at least 216,639 deaths.

California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 865,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 830,000 cases and over 741,000 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.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news developed today. All times Eastern.
Oct 14, 2020, 12:58 PM EDT

Trump seeking emergency approval for Regeneron

President Donald Trump is working to get emergency approval for Regeneron, the antibody treatment that he himself received after contracting COVID-19.

President Donald Trump removes his face mask to speak from the Blue Room Balcony of the White House to a crowd of supporters, Oct. 10, 2020, in Washington.
Alex Brandon/AP

The treatment made him "feel very good very fast," he told reporters from the Rose Garden of the White House on Wednesday morning.

"They call it a therapeutic, but I don't think it was therapeutic," Trump said. "I think it was a cure. For me, it was something that was very good. Who knows, maybe it would have happened anyway, maybe I would have recovered beautifully anyway. All I know is once I had Regeneron it worked out very well."

Oct 14, 2020, 12:58 PM EDT

Italy records record 1-day rise in cases

Italian health authorities reported 7,332 newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, topping the March 21 record when there were 6,557 new cases reported.

It should be noted that on March 21, there were only 26,336 tests done -- in the last 24 hours there were 152,196 tests.

There were an additional 43 deaths reported on Wednesday, bringing the nationwide total to 36,289. Some 539 patients are in intensive care, 25 more than Tuesday.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou and Phoebe Natanson

Oct 14, 2020, 12:39 PM EDT

Trump not spreading infectious virus, Fauci, NIH says

Tests show that President Donald Trump is not "shedding" COVID-19 after he contracted it weeks ago, medical experts say.

Anthony Fauci, director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Clifford Lane, medical director of the National Institute of Health, made the conclusion after reviewing the president's recent medical data, including a PCR test, the NIH confirmed to ABC News.

The officials believe "with a high degree of confidence" that the president is "not shedding the infectious virus."

NBC, which is holding a town hall with Trump on Thursday, first reported this information in a company press release.

ABC News' Ben Gittleson and Eric Strauss contributed to this report.

Oct 14, 2020, 12:39 PM EDT

UK reports nearly 20,000 new cases as new restrictions take force

The United Kingdom registered another 19,724 positive cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, a rise of 2,490 from the day before.

There were also 137 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, down slightly from the previous day's tally of 143.

The cumulative totals now stand at 654,644 positive cases and 57,690 fatalities with COVID-19 on the death certificate, according to the latest data from the U.K. government.

Fresh local restrictions were due to be implemented across swathes of England on Wednesday under a new three-tier system of COVID-19 alert levels, which British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday.

The new measures come as England saw its number of infections quadruple in the last three weeks. There are now more patients hospitalized with COVID-19 than when the country went into lockdown in late March, according to Johnson.

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