Coronavirus live updates: El Paso County gets fourth mobile morgue as death toll rises

November 2, 2020November 2, 2020 WKXA

Myriam Borzee/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1.2 million people worldwide.

Over 46.5 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 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 criteria for diagnosis — through clinical means or a lab test — has also varied from country to country.

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 nation, with more than 9.2 million diagnosed cases and at least 230,996 deaths.

Nearly 200 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.

Here’s how the news is developing Monday. All times Eastern:

Nov 02, 6:35 am
Nearly 50,000 Americans remain hospitalized

Nearly 50,000 people across the United States remain hospitalized for COVID-19.

As of Sunday, the number of current hospitalizations nationwide was 47,502, according to data collected by The COVID Tracking Project.

That figure has been steadily climbing since mid-September.

Nov 02, 6:01 am
Russia reports over 18,000 new cases for fourth straight day

Russia confirmed 18,257 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, according to the country’s coronavirus response headquarters.

It’s the fourth straight day that Russia has reported over 18,000 new infections. The latest daily tally falls just short of the country’s all-time high of 18,665 new cases in a 24-hour reporting period, which were confirmed a day earlier.

An additional 238 deaths from COVID-19 were also registered nationwide in the last 24 hours, down from last week’s peak of 366 fatalities, according to Russia’s coronavirus response headquarters.

Moscow remains the epicenter of the country’s outbreak and recent surge. More than 26% of the new cases — 4,796 — and over 22% of the new deaths — 53 — were reported in the capital.

The nationwide, cumulative total now stands at 1,655,038 cases with 28,473 deaths, according to Russia’s coronavirus response headquarters.

Last week, Russia’s health and consumer rights regulator, Rospotrebnadzor, introduced a nationwide mask mandate and ordered all clubs, bars, restaurants and other entertainment venues to be closed between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Russian authorities have repeatedly said they will not impose another nationwide lockdown.

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.

Nov 02, 5:06 am
El Paso County gets fourth mobile morgue as death toll rises

The El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office set up a fourth refrigerated mobile morgue as the COVID-19 death toll in the westernmost Texas county surpassed 600, according to a report by El Paso ABC affiliate KVIA-TV.

“My understanding is that we just got our fourth one,” El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego told KVIA on Sunday afternoon.

As of early Monday, El Paso county had confirmed a total of 50,114 cases of COVID-19 including at least 602 deaths. There were 943 patients who remained hospitalized with the disease, including 271 in intensive care units.

The death toll is expected to continue to rise as the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in ICUs and on ventilators reached an all-time high over the weekend. Health experts have said that many ventilator patients ultimately don’t survive the disease.

The El Paso County judge recently ordered a shutdown of all non-essential services and businesses for two weeks in a bid to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office announced Saturday that it would begin aggressively enforcing Samaniego’s shutdown order, which is being challenged in court.

Nov 02, 4:23 am
US reports more than 81,000 new cases

There were 81,493 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 slightly higher than the day prior but still less than the country’s all-time high of 99,321 new cases set on Friday.

An additional 447 fatalities from COVID-19 were also registered nationwide Sunday, almost half the previous day’s count and down from a peak of 2,666 new deaths in mid-April.

A total of 9,207,364 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 230,996 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 90,000 for the first time on Oct. 30.