Coronavirus live updates: US reports nearly 40,000 new cases

October 6, 2020October 6, 2020 WKXA

Myriam Borzee/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ABC News

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

Over 35.3 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 7.4 million diagnosed cases and at least 210,195 deaths.

California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 835,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 794,000 cases and over 717,000 cases, respectively.

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

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

Oct 06, 6:55 am
India records lowest single-day rise in cases since August

India confirmed another 61,267 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, its lowest single-day increase since Aug. 25.

An additional 884 coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded. The country’s cumulative total now stands at 6,685,082 confirmed cases with 103,569 deaths, according to the latest data from the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

India is only the second country to surpass six million total cases, after the United States. The vast nation of 1.3 billion people has the highest COVID-19 infection rate of anywhere in the world, although it is now on a downward trend. India is on track to become the pandemic’s worst-hit nation within weeks, overtaking the United States, where more than 7.4 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

India also has the highest number of recovered COVID-19 patients in the world, with nearly 5.7 million people who have survived the disease. The country’s recovery rate stands at 84%, according to the health ministry.

Oct 06, 6:15 am
Sacred Heart University suspends over 100 students for violating COVID-19 policies

Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, has suspended more than 100 students for violating the school’s COVID-19 policies, according to a report by New Haven ABC affiliate WTNH-TV.

University officials confirmed to WTNH that there have been at least 109 suspensions since the start of the fall semester due to various health and safety violations that include not wearing face masks, not social distancing and having unauthorized visitors in residence hall rooms.

The suspended students were informed that they cannot come back to campus for periods ranging from one week to the rest of the semester. They will continue to attend classes remotely in the meantime, according to WTNH.

University leaders hope the suspensions send a clear message that the coronavirus pandemic remains a very real threat and that safety is the number one goal for a successful semester back on campus.

“We want everyone to protect themselves and protect each other so that we can end the semester here on campus and have a full semester of on-campus, on-ground learning,” Larry Weilk, dean of students at Sacred Heart University, told WTNH. “Prior to the start of the year, we developed what we call a pioneer promise where we asked all students faculty and staff to promise to protect themselves, the campus community, and the greater Bridgeport and Fairfield community as well.”

“We’re all in this together,” he added. “We’re all trying to protect each other and stay healthy.”

Oct 06, 5:12 am
33 US states and territories in upward trajectory of new cases, FEMA memo says

An internal memo from the Federal Emergency Management Agency obtained by ABC News on Monday night shows that 33 U.S. states and territories are in an upward trajectory of COVID-19 infections, while four jurisdictions are at a plateau and 19 others are in a downward trend.

Both the number of new cases and the number of new deaths reported across the United States were down Monday in week-over-week comparisons. There were 301,308 new cases confirmed during the period of Sept. 28-Oct. 4, a 2.5% decrease from the previous week. There were also 4,871 coronavirus-related fatalities recorded during the period of Sept. 28-Oct. 4, a 8.2% decrease compared with the week prior, according to the memo.

However, the national positivity rate for COVID-19 tests increased slightly from 4.4% to 4.7% in week-to-week comparisons. Currently, 20% of hospitals across the country have more than 80% of beds full in their intensive care units. That figure was 17-18% during the summertime peak, the memo said.

In Alabama, COVID-19 cases accounted for 9.2% of the state’s inpatients during the week ending Sept. 29. The number of new cases nearly tripled in the western city of Tuscaloosa — from 562 to 1,549 — between the weeks ending Sept. 22 and Sept. 29, according to the memo.

In Colorado, there was a 42.2% relative increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases in Adams County between the weeks ending Sept. 22 and Sept. 29, driven by people under the age of 20. Meanwhile, nearly 80% of cases recorded in the northern city of Boulder since Aug. 24 have been linked to the University of Colorado, the memo said.

In Hawaii, there was a cluster of nine COVID-19 cases confirmed at the University of the Nations Kona campus in the town of Kailua-Kona, according to the memo.

Oct 06, 4:22 am
US reports nearly 40,000 new cases

There were 39,562 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Monday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Monday’s tally is far below the country’s record set on July 16, when there were 77,255 new cases in a 24-hour-reporting period.

An additional 460 coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded Sunday, down from a peak of 2,666 new fatalities reported on April 17.

A total of 7,458,549 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 210,195 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 hovered around 40,000 in recent weeks.