Coronavirus updates: CDC now 'strongly recommends' masks on airplanes, public transportation
The goal is to "help safely reopen America’s economy," the CDC said.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1.1 million people worldwide.
Over 40 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 8.1 million diagnosed cases and at least 219,674 deaths.
California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 875,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 854,000 cases and over 755,000 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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South Africa's health minister tests positive
South Africa's health minister, Dr. Zweli Mkhize, and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19.
"I wish to inform the public that this afternoon my wife, Dr May Mkhize and I have tested positive for COVID-19," he said in a statement posted on his official Twitter account Sunday. "We decided to go test yesterday when I started showing mild symptoms. I was feeling abnormally exhausted and as the day progressed, I started losing appetite."
"My wife had a cough, was dizzy and extremely exhausted," he continued. "Given her symptoms, the doctors advised that she must be admitted for observation and rehydration."
Mkhize said their close contacts over the past week, including some colleagues and family members, have been informed of their positive test results and were advised to immediately self-isolate and get tested.
"I am now in quarantine at home and both my wife and I remain optimistic that we will fully recover from this virus," he said.
The health minister warned of a possible second wave of infections and urged his fellow South Africans to continue wearing face masks, practicing social distancing and washing hands.
"I wish to take this opportunity to urge all South Africans to continue adhering to health protocols," he said. "As country, we’ve made significant strides in our fight against this pandemic. Let us not dare regress."
South Africa accounts for nearly half of all confirmed COVID-19 cases across the African continent. As of Monday, South Africa has reported 703,793 confirmed cases with at least 18,471 deaths, according to data from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
UNICEF stockpiling half a billion syringes this year ahead of vaccine
The United Nations Children's Fund said it will stockpile 520 million syringes in its warehouses by the end of the year to begin preparations for a COVID-19 vaccine.
The effort is part of a larger plan of delivering over 1 billion syringes to support vaccination efforts, on top of 620 million syringes that the U.N. agency will purchase for other vaccination programs against other disease such as measles and typhoid.
"Vaccinating the world against COVID-19 will be one of the largest mass undertakings in human history, and we will need to move as quickly as the vaccines can be produced," UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore said in a statement Monday. "In order to move fast later, we must move fast now. By the end of the year, we will already have over half a billion syringes pre-positioned where they can be deployed quickly and cost effectively. That’s enough syringes to wrap around the world one and a half times."
TSA screens over 1 million people for 1st time since March
More than 1 million people went through airport security checkpoints across the United States on Sunday for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Transportation Security Administration said it screened 1,031,505 individuals on Sunday, the most since mid-March. Although that figure is still some 60% lower than this time last year, it's a significant jump from a low of 87,534 people screened on April 14.
ABC News' Sam Sweeney contributed to this report.
Wales to enter 2-week 'firebreak' lockdown from Friday
Wales will become the second nation in the United Kingdom to enter a lockdown to combat a second wave of COVID-19 infections.
The Welsh government announced on Monday its decision to impose a two-week "firebreak," beginning Friday at 6 p.m. Everyone will be required to stay home and non-essential businesses, such as bars, gyms, restaurants and retail shops, must close until Nov. 9. There will be exceptions for critical workers and those who cannot do their jobs from home.
Libraries and places of worship will also be shut down across the country.
"This is the shortest we can make it, but that means it needs to be sharp and deep to have the impact against the virus we need it to have," Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said Monday.
Northern Ireland started a "circuit breaker" lockdown last Friday, closing schools for two weeks while banning most social gatherings and shutting down many business for a month.
US reports more than 48,000 new cases
There were 48,210 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Sunday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
The latest daily tally is down by nearly 10,000 from the previous day and also falls under the country’s record set on July 16, when there were 77,255 new cases in a 24-hour-reporting period.
An additional 389 coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded Sunday, almost half the previous day's death toll and down from a peak of 2,666 new fatalities reported on April 17.
A total of 8,154,935 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 217,700 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 continued to increase by double digits in week-over-week comparisons, while the number of new deaths from the disease ticked upward slightly, according to an internal memo from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that was obtained by ABC News on Friday night.