Coronavirus updates: 'Close contact' definition updated by CDC

The CDC offered new, more strict guidance on Wednesday.

ByMorgan Winsor and Catherine Thorbecke
Video byJessie DiMartino
Last Updated: October 21, 2020, 5:13 AM EDT

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

Over 41.1 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 8.3 million diagnosed cases and at least 221,987 deaths.

California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 886,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 868,000 cases and over 760,000 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 21, 2020, 5:13 AM EDT

US reports over 60,000 new cases, nearly 1,000 deaths

There were 60,315 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Tuesday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

The latest daily tally is up by almost 2,000 from the previous day but remains under the country’s record set on July 16, when there were 77,255 new cases in a 24-hour-reporting period.

An additional 993 coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded Tuesday, more than double the previous day's death toll but still down from a peak of 2,666 new fatalities reported on April 17.

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 8,274,797 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 220,133 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.

The number of new COVID-19 cases recorded in the United States increased by more than 12% in week-over-week comparisons, according to an internal memo from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that was obtained by ABC News on Tuesday night.

Oct 21, 2020, 4:29 AM EDT

COVID-19 cases among US children surge 13%, new report says

The number of children diagnosed with COVID-19 across the United States increased by 13% in the first two weeks of October, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.

There were 84,319 pediatric cases of COVID-19 reported nationwide from Oct. 1 to Oct. 15. The overall rate of infection is 986 cases per 100,000 children in the population, according to the weekly report, which was published Tuesday.

"While children represented only 10.9% of all cases in states reporting cases by age, over 741,000 children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic," the report said.

A man and child cross the street in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, one of the five boroughs of New York City, on Oct. 9, 2020.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Even so, the report noted that severe illness and deaths due to COVID-19 appear to be rare among children at this time. As of Oct. 15, children accounted for 1%-3.6% of total reported hospitalizations and 0%-0.27% of all COVID-19 deaths in the United States. Fourteen states reported zero pediatric deaths from the disease, according to the report.

"However, states should continue to provide detailed reports on COVID-19 cases, testing, hospitalizations, and mortality by age and race/ethnicity so that the effects of COVID-19 on children’s health can be documented and monitored," the report said.

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