Coronavirus updates: Fauci sets record straight on masks after debate

Fauci said his stance on masks were "taken out of context."

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

Over 33.8 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.

The United States is the worst-affected country, with more than 7.2 million diagnosed cases and at least 206,905 deaths.

California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 819,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 770,000 cases and over 706,000 cases, respectively.

Nearly 190 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 are being tracked by the World Health Organization, at least nine of which are in crucial phase three trials.


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Kentucky on pace for record week of coronavirus cases

On Tuesday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear reported 1,018 new cases -- the state's second highest single-day increase since March 6.

“It ought to be a wake-up call,” Beshear said. “What that means is we are on pace to have even more cases than last week where we set a record number of cases.”

Kentucky is one of 22 states currently considered in the "red zone" for cases according to the latest White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing obtained by ABC News.

The official rate of positive tests, a seven-day average, remains below 5 percent, at 4.24 percent. In addition to the second-highest number of daily cases, Kentucky reported 72,808 new tests on Tuesday, the second-highest amount announced in a single day since the start of the pandemic. A total of 1,446,385 tests have been administered since early March.


Paris, Lyon and Lille approaching the 'maximum alert zone' threshold

The incidence rates of the novel coronavirus in Paris, Lyon and Lille have exceeded the threshold of 250 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants set by the government.

In France, a region can be placed on maximum alert when the incidence rate of the virus -- the number of new positive cases -- is greater than 250 per 100,000 inhabitants over the last seven days in the general population and over 100 for people over 60. More than 30% of intensive care beds must also be occupied by COVID-19 patients.

Paris, Lyon and Lille have now reached several of these milestones meaning the cities could be placed on "maximum alert" and have new government restrictions placed on them.

As of Tuesday, France has reported 590,021 cases of coronavirus and 31,908 deaths.

France is attempting to revive its economy while simultaneously trying to curb a steady climb in infections which spread during the summer months.

ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud contributed to this report.