Worldwide coronavirus cases top 30 million
The total number of global cases has doubled since July 22.
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.
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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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
COVID-19 outbreaks hit French universities
Dozens of university campuses in major cities across France are reporting COVID-19 outbreaks, according to various local media outlets.
The affected cities reportedly include Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Rennes and Toulouse.
In a recent interview with French newspaper Ouest-France, the country's minister of higher education, Frederique Vidal, said the clusters of cases emerging on university campuses are "mostly linked to private gatherings," such as student parties. Still, Vidal said she wants to maintain in-person classes "because it is important that teachers and students meet," particularly first-year students "who need benchmarks."
French student unions, on the other hand, have laid the blame on overcrowded lecture halls.
Since the start of the academic year, at least 81 schools across France have been closed and 2,100 classes have been cancelled due to COVID-19.
"We have seen around 1,200 new COVID cases among school pupils this week," France's minister of national education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, told reporters Wednesday. "Classes are closed as soon as there are three positive cases."
ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud contributed to this report.
2-month-old baby dies from COVID-19 in Michigan
A 2-month-old baby in Michigan has died from COVID-19.
Michigan's chief medical executive, Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, announced the infant's death during a press conference Wednesday, while discussing how children are not spared from the novel coronavirus.
"I was so saddened to hear this news," Khaldun said. "My condolences go out to their parents and family."
Nearly 800 children across the United States have been diagnosed with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), a new pediatric disease associated with COVID-19 that can cause multiple organs to fail, according to Khaldun.
"Studies show that while children are less likely to get severely ill from COVID-19, they still can and they can also pass it on to others," Khaldun said, while urging people to wear masks, wash their hands and maintain social distancing.
"COVID-19 is not something to be taken lightly," she added.
Twenty children under the age of 1 have died of COVID-19 nationwide as of Sept. 12, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.