Coronavirus updates: Trump says 'not much' he'd change about COVID response
Thirty-one states are considered in the red zone for new cases in the last week.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1.1 million people worldwide.
Over 40.7 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 8.2 million diagnosed cases and at least 220,955 deaths.
California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 883,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 862,000 cases and over 760,000 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.
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India reports lowest daily case count in 3 months
India confirmed another 46,790 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, its lowest daily tally in three months.
An additional 587 deaths from the disease were also registered. The country's cumulative totals now stand at 7,597,063 confirmed cases and 115,197 deaths, according to the latest data from the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
India is only the second country in the world to surpass 7 million total cases, after the United States.
The vast country of nearly 1.4 billion people was on track to become the pandemic's worst-hit nation within weeks and overtake the United States, where more than 8.2 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19. But since hitting a peak of 97,894 new cases registered in a single day in September, India's average number of daily cases has steadily declined.
Pakistan sees 140% increase in COVID-19 deaths
The head of Pakistan's COVID-19 response, Asad Umar, said Tuesday that the country has seen a 140% increase in deaths from the disease in recent weeks due to people "recklessly ignoring" the social distancing rules.
"If we do not change our current path we will lose both lives and livelihoods," Umar, who also serves as Pakistan's planning and development minister, warned in a post on his official Twitter account.
Umar's warning comes after the National Command and Operations Center registered 618 new cases and 14 deaths in the past 24 hours, a significant jump from the previous day.
Pakistan's cumulative total now stands at 324,077 cases with 6,673 deaths.
Russia reports over 16,000 new cases for 1st time
Russia confirmed another 16,319 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, its highest single-day tally yet.
It's the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic that Russia's daily case count has exceeded 16,000.
More than 30% of the newly confirmed cases -- 4,999 -- were reported in the capital, Moscow, according to Russia's coronavirus response headquarters.
An additional 269 deaths from COVID-19 were also registered nationwide in the past 24 hours, just under last week's peak of 286. The cumulative totals now stand at 1,431,635 cases and 24,635 deaths, according to Russia's coronavirus response headquarters, which noted that the current growth rate in infections is 1.2%
Although Russia has been breaking its own records for daily case counts and deaths almost every day since Oct. 9, authorities there are resisting shutting down businesses again. Few measures have been imposed in Moscow, the epicenter of the country's COVID-19 outbreak and recent surge.
The Eastern European country of 145 million people has the fourth-highest tally of COVID-19 cases in the world, behind only the United States, India and Brazil, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
ABC News' Alina Lobzina contributed to this report.
UK to launch controversial vaccine trials where volunteers will be infected
In a bid to speed up the race to find a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, the U.K. government announced Tuesday morning that it will be launching some controversial vaccine studies known as challenge trials.
In a world first for COVID-19, young healthy volunteers will be vaccinated, then intentionally exposed to the potentially deadly virus in order to test vaccines in a controlled environment. Although some medical experts view them as ethically questionable, the benefit of challenge trials is that they can be completed in a much shorter timeframe than typical late-stage studies.
The experiment will take place in a quarantine ward of a hospital in north London. After inhaling a diluted dose of the virus, the trial participants will be closely monitored, thus enabling scientists and doctors to better understand the disease and how a vaccine can fight it.
"Human challenge studies can increase our understanding of COVID-19 in unique ways and accelerate development of the many potential new COVID-19 treatments and vaccines," said Dr. Chris Chiu of Imperial College London's Department of Infectious Disease, a lead researcher on the human challenge study.
ABC News' Zoe Magee contributed to this report.
Greece reports record rise in cases
Greece is reporting 667 new COVID-19 cases -- the nation's highest one-day rise.
Greece's daily increases may appear to be a fraction compared to its European Union neighbors, but the small Mediterranean nation was widely praised in the beginning of the outbreak for containing the spread through strict lockdowns.
Health Minister Vasilis Kikilias has acknowledged pressure is increasing, and according to local media, there's a fear that a surge in hospitalizations will quickly overwhelm health services.
Greece now has a total of 25,802 COVID-19 cases and at least 520 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.
ABC News' Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.