Coronavirus live updates: Virus can linger in air for hours: CDC

October 5, 2020October 5, 2020 WKXA

Samara Heisz/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1 million people worldwide.

Over 35.2 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 209,857 deaths.

California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 832,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 790,000 cases and over 716,000 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 Monday. All times Eastern:

Oct 05, 2:31 pm

CDC reposts warnings about airborne transmission

After a back and forth last month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control posted new guidance Monday on its website once again warning people about airborne spread of the coronavirus.

The updated guidelines state some infections can be spread by exposure to the virus in small droplets and particles that can linger in the air for minutes to hours.

The CDC added that those transmissions can take place, “within enclosed spaces that had inadequate ventilation. Sometimes the infected person was breathing heavily, for example while singing or exercising.”

“Today’s update acknowledges the existence of some published reports showing limited, uncommon circumstances where people with COVID-19 infected others who were more than 6 feet away or shortly after the COVID-19-positive person left an area,” the agency said in a statement.

The updated language does not change CDC recommendations on social distancing, mask wearing, avoiding large gatherings, and conducting any event or gathering outside as much as possible.

The new guidance came a month after the agency was criticized for posting guidance on airborne transmission on its site and then removing it two days later.

John Brooks, the chief medical officer for CDC’s COVID-19 response, apologized for the changes during a Sept. 21 briefing and told reporters that the initial posting went up too early since they were still conducting a scientific review.

-ABC News’ Stephanie Epps

Oct 05, 12:48 pm
NYC public schools in hot spot ZIP codes will be closed

All New York City public schools located in the nine ZIP codes that have been deemed hot spots for rising COVID-19 cases will be closed, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday.

The nine zip codes, located in Brooklyn and Queens, have seen a recent rise in positive tests — about 100 public schools will be affected.

Mayor Bill de Blasio sent a proposal on Sunday to the state government requesting the closure of all schools and nonessential businesses in those ZIP codes. Cuomo approved the proposal on Monday.

The schools will be closed beginning Tuesday.

Oct 05, 11:57 am
UK reports more than 12,000 new cases

There were 12,594 new cases of COVID-19 and 19 fatalities confirmed in the United Kingdom over the past 24 hours.

The latest daily tally is just short of the records set over the weekend when Public Health England said 15,841 cases between Sept. 25 and Oct. 2 were not included in the United Kingdom’s reported daily case counts due to a technical issue. The unreported cases were added retroactively to reach Saturday’s count of 12,872 new case and Sunday’s 22,961.

The cumulative total is now at 515,571 cases with 42,369 deaths, according to the latest data from the U.K. government.

ABC News’ Joseph Simonetti and Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

Oct 05, 11:36 am
Analysis shows cases increasing in 33 US states

An ABC News analysis of COVID-19 trends across all 50 U.S. states as well as Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico found there were increases in newly confirmed cases over the past two weeks in 33 states plus Puerto Rico.

The seven-day average of new cases in the United States is now the highest it has been since Aug. 22, a concerning national trend as health experts warn that colder temperatures could only exacerbate the spread of the virus.

The analysis also found increases in the daily positivity rate of COVID-19 tests in 25 states, increases in COVID-19 hospitalizations in 35 states plus Washington, D.C., and increases in daily COVID-19 death tolls in 18 states.

Four states — Nebraska, Montana, South Dakota and Wisconsin — hit a record number of current COVID-19 hospitalizations in a day. Nine states — all in the Midwest and West — have reported a record rise in COVID-19 cases during the last seven days.

Since Sept. 13, the seven-day national average of new cases has increased by nearly 25%.

The trends were all analyzed from data collected and published by the COVID Tracking Project over the past two weeks, using the linear regression trend line of the seven-day moving average.

ABC News’ Benjamin Bell, Brian Hartman, Soorin Kim and Arielle Mitropolous contributed to this report.

Oct 05, 8:26 am
10% of world population may have been infected, WHO says

The head of emergencies at the World Health Organization said Monday that “best estimates” indicate roughly 1 in 10 people worldwide may have been infected by the novel coronavirus.

“The vast majority of the world remains at risk,” Dr. Michael Ryan told a meeting of the WHO’s 34-member executive board, noting that the figures vary from rural to urban areas and between different groups.

Based on the current world population, that estimate would amount to more than 760 million infected individuals — well over the 35 million diagnosed cases of COVID-19 tallied worldwide by both the WHO and Johns Hopkins University.

“We are now heading into a difficult period,” Ryan warned.

Oct 05, 7:32 am
Russia records highest single-day spike in cases since May

Russia confirmed 10,888 new cases of COVID-19 over the last 24 hours, the country’s highest single-day increase since May 12.

An additional 117 coronavirus-related deaths were also recorded in the past day, according to Russia’s coronavirus response headquarters.

The country’s cumulative total now stands at 1,225,889 confirmed cases and 21,475 deaths.

More than 32% of the newly confirmed cases — 3,527 — were registered in the capital, Moscow.

It’s the first time in almost four months that Russia has reported over 10,000 new cases in a day. The country’s COVID-19 outbreak has started to grow following the summer holidays, with many restrictions lifted and social distancing guidance disregarded.

Oct 05, 6:32 am
India registers over 74,000 new cases

India confirmed another 74,442 new cases of COVID-19 and 1,039 fatalities in the past 24 hours.

The country’s cumulative total now stands at 6,623,815 confirmed cases with 102,685 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 country 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. The number of active COVID-19 cases in India has remained below one million for the last two weeks.

India also has the highest number of recovered COVID-19 patients in the world, with more than 5.5 million people who have survived the disease. The country’s recovery rate stands at 84%, according to the health ministry.

Oct 05, 5:47 am
Paris and its suburbs will move to ‘maximum alert zone’

French Prime Minister Jean Castex has ordered Paris and its inner suburbs to be placed on maximum COVID-19 alert with new restrictions due to rising cases.

Castex’s office told Agence France-Presse on Sunday that the French capital had “crossed the three thresholds corresponding to the maximum alert zone several days ago and this trend was confirmed over the weekend.”

The restrictive measures, which will be laid out at a press conference with the city’s mayor Monday morning, will come into force on Tuesday and will last for two weeks. Being put on the highest level of alert means bars will be forced to close during that time and restaurants will have to impose new sanitary protocols in order to stay open.

The move comes after bars and restaurants in the French port city of Marseille and nearby Aix-en-Provence were ordered to shut their doors last week as the number of COVID-19 infections climbed. The businesses are allowed to reopen this week, in accordance with a reinforced sanitary protocol.

France is not the only country seeing a resurgence in COVID-19 cases. Other European nations including Spain and the United Kingdom are also grappling with growing outbreaks.

Since the start of the pandemic, France’s public health agency has confirmed more than 619,000 cases with at least 32,230 deaths.

Oct 05, 4:28 am
US reports more than 35,000 new cases

There were 35,504 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Sunday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

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

An additional 337 coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded Sunday, down from a peak of 2,666 new fatalities reported on April 17.

A total of 7,418,107 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 209,725 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.

An internal memo from the Federal Emergency Management Agency obtained by ABC News on Friday night shows that the number of new cases recorded in the United States is continuing to increase slightly while the number of new deaths increased significantly in week-over-week comparisons.