By MORGAN WINSOR, EMILY SHAPIRO, ERIN SCHUMAKER, IVAN PEREIRA, JON HAWORTH and MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News(NEW YORK) — A novel coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 1.3 million people worldwide.Over 56.3 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 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.The United States is the worst-affected nation, with more than 11.5 million diagnosed cases and at least 250,537 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 Thursday. All times Eastern:
Nov 19, 6:15 amUS Coast Guard vessel returns to base due to COVID-19 outbreakA U.S. Coast Guard vessel on a counter-narcotics patrol was forced to return to its base in California on Wednesday, after 11 crew members tested positive for COVID-19.The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton set out from its homeport in Alameda on Oct. 28 to begin a counter-narcotics patrol in the Eastern Pacific. Prior to departure, the crew was required to self-quarantine and test negative for COVID-19 twice, according to a press release from the Coast Guard.Last week, several crew members began to develop mild COVID-19 symptoms and were administered rapid testing kits on board. All affected personnel and their close contacts were identified and quarantined, according to the press release.Coast Guard medical staff conducted testing of the ship’s entire crew, who then went into quarantine. The infected crew members are receiving medical care, according to the press release.”The crew’s health and safety is my highest priority,” Stratton’s commanding officer, Capt. Bob Little, said in a statement Wednesday. “Stratton has a highly resilient crew, always dedicated to the mission. Our mission today is to get healthy so we can continue our service to the nation.”
Nov 19, 5:51 amRussia surpasses two million total casesRussia’s COVID-19 case count surpassed the two million mark on Thursday morning, as the number of new infections and daily deaths hit record highs.Russia confirmed 23,610 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the country’s highest single-day tally since the pandemic began. Meanwhile, an all-time high of 463 fatalities from COVID-19 were registered nationwide over the past day, marking the third straight day that Russia set a new record for its daily death toll from the disease, according to the country’s coronavirus response headquarters.Russia’s cumulative total now stands at 2,015,608 cases, including 34,850 deaths, according to the coronavirus response headquarters. It’s the second country in Europe and the fifth in the world to reach the grim milestone of two million total cases.The Eastern European nation of 145 million people has the fifth-highest tally of COVID-19 cases in the world, behind only the United States, India, Brazil and France, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.Nov 19, 5:03 amUS reports over 170K new casesThere were 170,161 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the United States on Tuesday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.It’s the sixth day in a row that the country has reported over 150,000 newly diagnosed infections. Tuesday’s count is slightly less than the all-time high of 177,224 on Nov. 13.An additional 1,848 fatalities from COVID-19 were also registered nationwide on Tuesday, the highest since May 7 but still under a peak of 2,609 new deaths on April 15.A total of 11,529,818 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 250,537 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.Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of pandemic hit. 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 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4.Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
