Coronavirus updates: Nearly 20,000 Amazon employees likely to have contracted COVID-19
The company reported the number of positive tests for the first time Thursday.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1 million people worldwide.
Over 34.1 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 7.2 million diagnosed cases and at least 207,651 deaths.
California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 821,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 774,000 cases and over 709,000 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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New York state launches tracing app
New York state has launched a tracing app that uses cellphone technology to tell you if you were in contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19.
The app tells you if you were within 6 feet of a positive person and if you were close to that person for 10 minutes, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.
“It doesn’t give names, it doesn’t give any privacy information,” he said.
The app works in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
ABC News' Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
No large events at Buckingham Palace this year
Buckingham Palace will not host any major events this year due to the pandemic, according to an update on the website.
"A variety of possibilities were examined to see if it was possible for Investitures [ceremonies to award honors] to safely take place in line with the guidelines. Sadly, due to the large numbers of guests and recipients attending, it was not possible to find a way of safely delivering these events in the current circumstances," Buckingham Palace said.
The Queen still plans to divide her time between Windsor and Buckingham Palace.
ABC News' Zoe Magee contributed to this report.
New CDC guidance says entry testing at colleges might reduce transmission
The CDC has released extensive new guidance for colleges and universities dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks, dropping its previous recommendation against “entry” testing and now saying that approach might “prevent or reduce” transmission.
The CDC's new guidance, which was quietly updated Wednesday, says due to the “frequent movement of faculty, staff and students” between campuses and the community, “a strategy of entry screening combined with regular serial testing might prevent or reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission.”
The new guidance seems to take into account growing cases near college towns since school returned this fall. The CDC said in June that it did “not recommend entry testing of all returning students, faculty, and staff.”
That guidance was delivered at a time when the U.S. testing system was stressed and some people were reporting that it took several days or even weeks to get a result. Since then, testing has become somewhat more available and college campuses have experienced a major surge in cases.
ABC News' Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
Steelers-Titans game pushed back to later in season due to more COVID-19 cases
The Pittsburgh Steelers-Tennessee Titans game, originally set for Sunday and then delayed to Monday or Tuesday, has now been pushed back to later in the season due to more COVID-19 cases, the NFL said Thursday.
One more Titans player and one more personnel member have tested positive, the NFL said Thursday. This comes after four Titans players and five team personnel members tested positive this week, according to ESPN.
“The Titans facility will remain closed and the team will continue to have no in-person activities,” the NFL said in a statement Thursday. “An announcement of the new game date will be made shortly.”