October 13, 2020 • No Comments • National News

narvikk/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News

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

Over 37.8 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 7.8 million diagnosed cases and at least 215,251 deaths.

California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 858,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 821,000 cases and over 736,000 cases, respectively.

More than 190 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 Tuesday. All times Eastern:

Oct 13, 11:07 am
Cristiano Ronaldo tests positive for COVID-19

Cristiano Ronaldo has tested positive for COVID-19, the governing body of soccer in Portugal announced Tuesday.

The 35-year-old Portuguese soccer star is “doing well,” doesn’t have any symptoms and is currently self-isolating, according to a statement from the Portuguese Football Federation. Due to the positive test result, he will not take part in his country’s UEFA Nations League match against Sweden on Wednesday.

Following Ronaldo’s diagnosis, the remaining players of Portugal’s national soccer team were tested for COVID-19 again Tuesday morning and all results came back negative. Portugal coach Fernando Santos will train them Tuesday afternoon at the Cidade do Futebol complex near Lisbon, according to the statement.

Oct 13, 10:39 am
Europe reports highest weekly incidence of COVID-19 cases

The World Health Organization said more than 2.2 million new cases of COVID-19 and 39,000 deaths from the disease have been reported across the globe in the past week, the highest number of reported cases so far in a single week since the start of the pandemic.

According to the WHO’s weekly epidemiological update published Monday, Europe registered the highest weekly incidence of COVID-19 cases of any region since the start of the pandemic, with almost 700,000 new infections reported. The region’s weekly incidence in cases and deaths increased by 34% and 16% respectively in comparison to the previous week. The United Kingdom, France, Russia and Spain account for over half of all new cases reported in the region.

Africa reported a substantial rise in deaths from COVID-19, with a 27% increase compared to the previous week. South Africa continues to register more than half of all confirmed cases reported in the region, the WHO said.

Still, nearly half of the world’s cases and deaths continue to be reported in the Americas region, with the United States, Brazil and Argentina accounting for the greatest numbers, according to the WHO.

All regions showed an increase in cases during the reporting period, except Southeast Asia. Countries reporting the highest number of cases in the last seven days include India, the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom and France, the WHO said.

Oct 13, 8:28 am
Iowa becomes latest US state to surpass 100,000 cases

Iowa has tallied more than 100,000 positive cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

The midwestern U.S. state reached the grim milestone on Monday amid a surge in new cases. More than half of all 50 states have now passed the 100,000 mark.

As of Tuesday morning, the Iowa Department of Public Health had recorded a total of 100,507 positive cases out of 867,124 individuals tested so far, with a positivity rate of 11.6%.

U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to the Hawkeye State, where he will host a campaign rally Wednesday following his recent COVID-19 diagnosis.

Oct 13, 7:58 am
Chinese city tests more than 3 million residents amid outbreak

The eastern Chinese port city of Qingdao has tested more than a third of its nine million residents for COVID-19 since launching a citywide testing campaign amid the country’s first reported domestic outbreak in months.

The Qingdao Municipal Health Commission said in a statement Tuesday that it had collected over three million samples for COVID-19 tests and that no new cases have been found among the more than 1.1 million results returned thus far. The entire city will be tested this week, the commission said.

A total of 12 cases of COVID-19 — six with symptoms and six without — have been recorded in Qingdao, since an outbreak linked to the city’s Municipal Chest Hospital was discovered over the weekend, according to the commission.

The Chinese mainland, where the coronavirus pandemic began last December, has so far reported 85,591 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 4,634 deaths. The country does not count asymptomatic infections as confirmed cases.

Oct 13, 7:16 am
Italy introduces strict new nationwide measures

The Italian government imposed strict new measures nationwide on Tuesday in a bid to prevent further spread of the novel coronavirus.

Under the new rules, parties in public spaces and discos, both indoors and outdoors, are banned. Parties can be held in restaurants but with no more than 30 attendees. Bars, ice cream parlors, pastry shops and restaurants with table service must close by midnight, while those without must shutter by 9 p.m. Drinks can only be consumed while sitting at tables — not while standing at the bar or outside — after 9 p.m.

Also banned are school trips, guided tours and any contact sports not organized by an association that can maintain social distancing rules. Gyms, however, remain open.

The government’s new measures are limited to “strong recommendations” against private gatherings and parties in homes with more than six people who don’t share a household. There’s also no obligation to wear a face mask inside a home but it’s “strongly recommended” when guests are over.

Last week’s nationwide mandate to wear masks outdoors remains in place.

The move comes as Italy, once the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, sees a sharp uptick in infections after gradually loosening restrictions during the spring and summer, following a nearly three-month lockdown that helped get its COVID-19 outbreak under control.

Earlier this month, the European country confirmed more than 5,000 new cases of COVID-19 in a single day for the first time since the peak of its outbreak in late March. On Monday, Italy’s civil protection agency registered 4,619 new cases and 39 deaths, bringing the cumulative totals to 359,569 cases and 36,205 deaths.

Oct 13, 5:51 am
Russia sees record rise in cases and deaths but ‘no reason’ for lockdown

Russia confirmed 13,868 new cases of COVID-19 and 244 deaths over the past 24 hours, setting new records for its daily tallies of both infections and fatalities.

It’s the third straight day that Russia has registered over 13,000 new cases. The country’s previous record of 13,634 new cases was set over the weekend. Meanwhile, the latest single-day death toll shatters the previous record of 232 deaths, which was set at the end of May.

The cumulative totals now stand at 1,312,310 confirmed cases and 22,727 deaths, according to Russia’s coronavirus response headquarters.

Russian authorities have said there’s no immediate plan to impose a second nationwide lockdown, even as the country’s outbreak grows after most coronavirus-related restrictions were lifted over the summer.

“In spite of the fact that we are seeing growing numbers, today in the Russian Federation we are not talking about blocking the economy, halting any activities, enterprises or any sectors of the economy because we see no reason for that today,” Anna Popova, head of Russian consumer watchdog Rospotrebnazor, told reporters Tuesday.

But officials in Moscow, the epicenter of the country’s COVID-19 outbreak, have recommended that the elderly self-isolate at home and also encouraged businesses to have at least one-third of their employees work from home. School holidays in the capital this month were extended from one to two weeks.

More than 33% of the newly confirmed cases — 4,618 — and nearly 24% of the newly reported deaths — 58 — were registered in the capital. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has said that this week will be “largely decisive” in the fight against the city’s outbreak.

Oct 13, 5:33 am
India records lowest daily tally of cases since August

India confirmed another 55,342 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, it’s lowest daily tally since mid-August.

An additional 706 coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded. The country’s cumulative totals now stand at 7,175,880 confirmed cases and 109,856 deaths, according to the latest data from the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

India is only the second country in the world to surpass seven million total cases, after the United States. Since hitting a peak of 97,894 new cases registered in a single day in September, India’s average number of daily cases has steadily declined, falling to under 73,000 cases a day.

The vast country of nearly 1.4 billion people is still on track to become the pandemic’s worst-hit nation within weeks, overtaking the United States, where more than 7.8 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Oct 13, 5:08 am
Four Vatican Swiss Guards test positive for COVID-19

Four members of the Vatican Swiss Guard have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.

The test results came in over the weekend and the four guards, who are showing symptoms, were placed in isolation.

“During these hours, the necessary checks are being carried out among those who may have been in direct contact with them,” Bruni told reporters Monday. “In the meantime, in accordance with the provisions issued last week by the Governorate of Vatican City State, all the guards, whether on duty or not, wear masks, both outdoors and indoors, and observe the prescribed health measures.”

They are believed to be the first to test positive for the virus among the Vatican Swiss Guard, the elite, colorfully-dressed corps that protects the pope. It’s unknown what direct contact — if any — the infected guards had with Pope Francis, who doesn’t wear a mask at his general audiences or when meeting with worshippers, sometimes coming into relatively close contact to mingle and shake hands.

The COVID-19 infections among the four guards are in addition to three other positive cases discovered in recent weeks among residents and citizens of Vatican City, the tiny city-state surrounded by Rome that is home to the pontiff and serves as the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. All cases have mild symptoms and the necessary measures of isolation and contact tracing have been taken, according to Bruni.

Oct 13, 4:31 am
US reports more than 41,000 new cases

There were 41,653 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Monday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

The latest daily tally is down by less than 3,000 from the previous day and falls well under the country’s record set on July 16, when there were 77,255 new cases in a 24-hour-reporting period.

An additional 317 coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded Sunday, down from a peak of 2,666 new fatalities reported on April 17.

A total of 7,804,336 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 215,086 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 started to climb again in recent weeks.

Week-over-week comparisons show the number of new cases reported across the nation continues to go up, as does the usage of intensive care units, but the number of new deaths are down, according to an internal memo from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that was obtained by ABC News last week.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

October 12, 2020 • No Comments • National News

iStock/luchezarBy: CATHERINE THORBECKE, ABC News

More people are now engaging with outlets on Facebook that repeatedly publish verifiably false content than in the lead-up to the 2016 election, new research shows.

These findings come despite a slew of new efforts from social media companies to combat the spread of misinformation on their platforms ahead of the 2020 presidential vote.

The level of engagement with articles from “false content producers” that masquerade as news organizations but repeatedly publish demonstrably false materials has increased 102% since 2016, according to a report published Monday by the think tank German Marshall Digital Fund in partnership with the firms NewsGuard and NewsWhip.

“What we were really trying to zero in on was something very simple — how is it that we keep hearing all these reports about disinformation when the platforms have taken so many actions? There have been so many announcements to prevent disinformation,” Karen Kornbluh, the director of the digital innovation and democracy initiative at the German Marshall Fund, told ABC News. “We realized there is a whole disinformation supply chain, which starts with these sites that mask as news outlets.”

The researchers also found that the level of engagement with sites that don’t necessarily mask as news outlets but repeatedly fail to present information responsibly has increased 293% in the run-up to the 2020 election compared to the 2016 presidential election. Examples of these sites, dubbed “manipulators,” include Breitbart News, according to the researchers.

Moreover, interactions with both kinds of deceptive sites — false content producers and manipulators — have spiked 242% between the third quarter of 2016 and the third quarter of 2020, the researchers found.

Kornbluh noted that while overall engagement across all content increased during the timeframe they examined, “we see the disinformation sites increasing at greater rates than overall engagement,” she said.

Kornbluh said they didn’t expect to see increased interactions with the false content producers “but we saw it there, and then we saw an enormous increase in interactions with the manipulators” since 2016.

“That is an explanation for why you’re seeing so much disinformation,” she said.

The researchers rated these outlets based on methodology developed by the startup NewsGuard, which ranks the credibility of outlets that claim to be journalism based on nine factors.

Kornbluh said it can be hard initially for regular users to tell the difference between these false content producers, manipulators and credible news organizations, which is in part why the misinformation spreads so fast.

If you see a piece of news or a headline on Facebook, “one thing you need to check is, what is the outlet this is coming from?” she said. “What are they using to make this claim? And really probing what’s the evidence behind this.”

Ultimately, however, she said “there needs to be actions to change the incentives of the platforms.”

“Just like the car companies in the early days, it wasn’t in their incentives to put in a seat belt, and we didn’t ask the individuals to install seat belts,” she said.

Social media companies need to implement policy and internal changes to better protect users from misinformation, she argued.

As for Facebook, “what they need to do is instead of playing whack-a-mole with individual pieces of content, they need to look at the disinformation supply chain,” she said, “and how they can disrupt this supply chain and not amplify that.”

A Facebook spokesperson told ABC News in a statement that “engagement does not capture what most people actually see on Facebook.”

“Using it to draw conclusions about the progress we’ve made in limiting misinformation and promoting authoritative sources of information since 2016 is misleading,” the spokesperson added. “Over the past four years we’ve built the largest fact-checking network of any platform, made investments in highlighting original, informative reporting, and changed our products to ensure fewer people see false information and are made aware of it when they do.”

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

October 12, 2020 • No Comments • National News

Myriam Borzee/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR and ERIN SCHUMAKER, ABC News

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

Over 37.4 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 7.7 million diagnosed cases and at least 214,771 deaths.

California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 855,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 818,000 cases and over 734,000 cases, respectively.

More than 190 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:

Oct 12, 1:42 pm
Highest rise in COVID-19 cases reported in the last 4 days: WHO

World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that achieving herd immunity is not a viable strategy for stemming the spread of coronavirus.

Less than 10% of the world’s population has been infected with the virus, according to WHO, meaning that most individuals are still susceptible to the disease. Among those who have been exposed, there are many unknowns, including how high the immune response is after infection, how long it protects, and what the long-term impacts of infection are.

Worldwide COVID-19 cases continue to increase, with the highest rise occurring in the last four days, according to WHO. As of Monday, there had been 37.6 million infections worldwide according to Johns Hopkins University.

ABC News’ Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

Oct 12, 1:14 pm
HHS whistleblower says public should not trust White House on COVID-19

Whistleblower Rick Bright, the federal vaccine expert who was ousted from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services after he lodged a complaint against the Trump Administration earlier this year, said that the public should not trust the White House when it comes to information about the coronavirus, during an interview with ABC’s The View on Monday.

“We need to hear directly from the scientists at the CDC, at the FDA and at the NIH,” Bright said. “Public health guidelines have been disparaged and ignored,” he added, referring to the White House.

“This is why we have 215,000 dead Americans today. This is why we have up to 50,000 new infections today. This is why we’re going to have terrible winter if we don’t do something now to turn around the rhetoric, tell people the truth.”

Oct 12, 12:07 pm
Analysis shows cases rising in 32 states plus DC

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 32 states as well as the nation’s capital.

The analysis also found increases in the daily positivity rate of COVID-19 tests in 22 states plus D.C., increases in COVID-19 hospitalizations in 35 states and increases in daily COVID-19 death tolls in 13 states plus Puerto Rico.

The seven-day average of new cases in the United States is the highest it has been since Aug. 17.

Last week, 14 states reported their greatest single-day increases in the number of new COVID-19 cases, while 14 states hit a record number of current COVID-19 hospitalizations and two states recorded their highest single-day death tolls from the disease.

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 12, 12:14 pm
UK prime minister outlines 3-tier lockdown system for England

The Liverpool area will be placed on the highest tier of England’s new COVID-19 alert system from Wednesday, with bars, pubs and gyms forced to close, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced.

Johnson outlined the country’s new three-tier system of COVID-19 alert levels on Monday afternoon, while addressing lawmakers in the House of Commons. He said every area of England will be placed into one of the three tiers — “medium,” “high” and “very high.”

The “medium” level, which the prime minister said will cover most of the country, will consist of national measures, including the “rule of six” — a ban on any gathering of more than six people — and a 10 p.m. curfew for hospitality venues.

The “high” level, Johnson said, will prevent all social mixing indoors between different households or support bubbles in an effort to reduce household-to-household transmission, with the “rule of six” still in effect for mixing outdoors.

“Most areas which are already subject to local restrictions will automatically move into the ‘high’ alert level,” the prime minister told lawmakers.

The “very high” level will ban social mixing indoors and in private gardens, along with the closure of all bars, pubs, gyms, betting shops, casinos and leisure centers in these areas, according to Johnson. The Liverpool City Region, home to 1.5 million people, is the first area to enter the “very high” alert level.

“The ‘very high’ alert level will apply where transmission rates are rising most rapidly,” Johnson said.

All retail outlets, schools and universities will remain open across England.

“This is not how we want to live our lives,” the prime minister told lawmakers. “But this is the narrow path we have to tread between the social and economic trauma of a full lockdown and the massive human and indeed economic cost of an uncontained epidemic.”

The new measures come as England saw its number of COVID-19 infections quadruple in the last three weeks. There are now more patients hospitalized with COVID-19 than when the country went into lockdown in late March, according to Johnson.

“I must warn the House, the weeks and months ahead will continue to be difficult and will test the mettle of this country,” he said. “I have no doubt at all that together we will succeed.”

Oct 12, 11:01 am
Czech Republic introduces more restrictions after record surge

The Czech Republic has imposed more restrictive measures aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19, as the country combats the highest rate of infection in Europe.

Cinemas, gyms, indoor public swimming pools, theaters and zoos will all be shuttered for at least two weeks. Bars and restaurants are ordered to close by 8 p.m. and no more than four patrons are allowed at a table. All universities and most high schools will offer only remote classes.

The new measures announced by the Czech government come as the European country of 10.7 million hit a new peak of 8,618 confirmed cases on Friday, up more than 3,000 from the previous day. The cumulative total stands at 117,110 confirmed cases with 987 deaths, according to the latest data from the Czech health ministry.

The Czech government declared a second state of emergency on Oct. 5 due to the rapid increase in COVID-19 infections, after having relaxed almost all restrictions over the summer. The declaration will last for 30 days.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Friday that he cannot rule out a nationwide lockdown.

ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic contributed to this report.

Oct 12, 8:57 am
France is in a ‘strong second wave,’ prime minister warns

French Prime Minister Jean Castex warned Monday that tougher restrictions could be imposed as the country battles a “strong second wave” of COVID-19.

“The French thought it was over,” Castex said during an interview on French news broadcaster France Info. “There can be no more relaxation.”

At least nine major cities, including Paris and Marseille, have been placed under the maximum COVID-19 alert level as intensive care wards fill up again with patients. Castex said a “general lockdown” of the entire country “must be avoided by all means” but added that nothing should be ruled out, including local lockdowns.

Castex’s warning comes as France hit a new record of daily COVID-19 cases over the weekend, with 26,896 confirmed in a 24-hour period.

France’s public health agency confirmed 16,101 new cases and 46 deaths on Sunday. The cumulative totals now stand at 734,974 confirmed cases and 32,730 deaths, making France one of Europe’s hardest-hit countries in the coronavirus pandemic.

Oct 12, 7:42 am
UK prime minister to announce new measures for England amid rising infections

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to announce tighter restrictions for England under a new three-tier system of COVID-19 alert levels.

Areas of England will be placed into “medium,” “high” and “very high” alert levels with restrictions of varying severity. It’s unclear which areas will be covered by which alert levels and what the respective interventions are. Johnson is expected to provide details on the new measures when he addresses lawmakers at the House of Commons on Monday afternoon.

The country’s medical chiefs warned of a resurgence in COVID-19 during a press conference Monday morning, pointing to graphs that showed rising infections and hospitalizations in swathes of England as winter approaches.

Liverpool has one of the highest levels of COVID-19 infection in England, with more than 600 cases per 100,000 population. The area is expected to be placed under the most stringent level of restrictions.

Oct 12, 6:56 am
Russia registers over 13,000 new cases for second straight day

Russia confirmed 13,592 new cases of COVID-19 and 125 deaths over the past 24 hours.

It’s the second straight day that Russia has tallied over 13,000 new cases. The country’s record of 13,634 new cases was set the previous day.

The national tally now stands at 1,312,310 confirmed cases with 22,727 deaths, according to Russia’s coronavirus response headquarters.

More than 32% of the newly confirmed cases — 4,395 — and 27% of the newly reported deaths — 34 — were registered in Moscow, the epicenter of the country’s COVID-19 outbreak. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said this week will be “largely decisive” in the fight against the city’s outbreak.

Russian authorities have said there’s no immediate plan to impose a second nationwide lockdown, even as the country’s outbreak grows after most coronavirus-related restrictions were lifted over the summer.

Officials in Moscow, however, have recommended that the elderly self-isolate at home and also encouraged businesses to have at least one-third of their employees work from home. School holidays in the capital this month were extended from one to two weeks.

Oct 12, 6:28 am
India becomes second country in the world to surpass seven million cases

India confirmed another 66,732 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, driving the country’s tally to more than 7.1 million.

An additional 816 coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded. The country’s cumulative totals now stand at 7,120,538 confirmed cases and 109,150 deaths, according to the latest data from the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

India is only the second country in the world to surpass seven million total cases, after the United States. The spread of the virus in India appears to have slowed down since mid-September, when the country registered a record 97,894 new cases in a single day. So far this month, India is averaging more than 70,000 cases per day.

India is still on track to become the pandemic’s worst-hit nation within days, overtaking the United States, where more than 7.4 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Oct 12, 5:36 am
China to test entire city of nine million amid outbreak linked to hospital

All nine million residents of the Chinese city of Qingdao will be tested for COVID-19 this week amid an outbreak linked to a hospital.

The Qingdao Municipal Health Commission made the announcement in a statement Monday, saying the entire city would be tested within five days and the results would be released immediately. The move comes after nine new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Qingdao, of which eight are patients at the city’s Municipal Chest Hospital and one is a family member. Four of the cases were asymptomatic, which China does not count as confirmed cases.

The Qingdao Municipal Health Commission said the specific source of infection remains under investigation.

As of Monday, 114,862 people — including medical staff and newly hospitalized patients — had tested negative for COVID-19 in Qingdao, according to the city’s health commission.

China’s National Health Commission has so far reported 85,578 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 4,634 deaths on the Chinese mainland, where the coronavirus pandemic began last December.

Oct 12, 5:05 am
US reports more than 44,000 new cases

There were 44,614 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 down by more than 10,000 from the previous day and falls well under the country’s record set on July 16, when there were 77,255 new cases in a 24-hour-reporting period.

An additional 400 coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded Sunday, down from a peak of 2,666 new fatalities reported on April 17.

A total of 7,762,809 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 214,771 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 started to climb again in recent weeks.

Week-over-week comparisons show the number of new cases reported across the nation continues to go up, as does the usage of intensive care units, but the number of new deaths are down, according to an internal memo from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that was obtained by ABC News last week.

Oct 12, 4:46 am
Mexico confirms first case of someone with both COVID-19 and influenza

Mexico has confirmed its first case of an individual who has tested positive for both COVID-19 and influenza at the same time.

Dr. Jose Luis Alomia Zegarra, director general of epidemiology at the Mexican Ministry of Health, told a press conference Sunday night that the case was detected in a 54-year-old woman with a number of preexisting conditions who remains hospitalized in stable condition after developing COVID-19 symptoms. She’s a cancer survivor and suffers from autoimmune disease, chronic pulmonary issues as well as obesity, according to Zegarra.

Zegarra said the woman first displayed symptoms of COVID-19 at the end of September and was hospitalized. She tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 2 as she awaited the results of a panel of over a dozen viral exams. The patient started to receive therapy for COVID-19 and was later discharged from the hospital between Oct. 5 and Oct. 6 after her condition improved.

On Oct. 8, while at home, the woman started to have a fever and respiratory issues again. She was admitted to the hospital a second time, according to Zegarra.

On Saturday, the patient’s full virus panel test returned with positive results for both COVID-19 and influenza, Zegarra said.

Since the start of the pandemic, Mexico’s health ministry has confirmed more than 817,000 cases of COVID-19 with at least 83,781 deaths. The country has the four-highest death toll from COVID-19 in the world, according to tallies kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

October 11, 2020 • No Comments • National News

Houston Fire Department via TwitterBY: BILL HUTCHINSON, ABC NEWS

(HOUSTON) — An alleged serial arsonist who authorities say may be responsible for setting dozen of blazes that have terrorized the city of Houston in recent weeks has been arrested.

The suspect, 28-year-old Joshua Rauch, was arrested on Saturday after arson investigators scouring surveillance video spotted Rauch’s car at the location of some of the fires, giving them enough probable cause to get approval from the Harris County District Attorney’s office to place an electronic tracking device on his vehicle to follow his movements, officials said at a news conference.

Rauch has been linked to at least seven fires that have occurred in the Houston area, including several set in the city’s popular Greater Heights neighborhood, but investigators said he allegedly confessed to setting other fires in the community.

“I can’t stress enough how proud I am of our folks and the work that they have done in getting this very dangerous individual off the street as quickly as they did,” Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena said at the news conference on Saturday.

Assistant Fire Chief Alfredo Martinez and fire investigator Alison Stein alleged that Rauch has been setting fires all over the Houston, burning vehicles, sheds and trash containers. No one has been injured in the blazes, most having occurred under the cover of night.

Martinez said the investigation started in earnest on Tuesday following a fire near a Houston business and another that same day at the University of Houston in the downtown area.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

October 11, 2020 • No Comments • National News

M-A-U/iStockBY: JON HAWORTH, ABC NEWS

(NEW YORK) — An argument at a card game led to one man being killed and one man being shot on Saturday.

The incident occurred at approximately 2:59 a.m. on Oct. 10, when authorities from Robeson County Sheriff’s Office in Rowland, North Carolina, responded to a report of two men having been shot at a residence.

“The shootings are the result of an argument at a card game,” read a statement released by the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office.

When the police arrived they found 54-year-old Rodney Lewis of Rowland, North Carolina, suffering from a non-life threatening gunshot wound. Authorities did not release details on the extent of his injuries.

The first responders also found 24-year-old Jamel R. Hendrix of Lumberton, North Carolina, suffering from a gunshot wound.

Hendrix was immediately transported for treatment at Southeastern Health in Lumberton but died from the gunshot wound suffered at the card game prior to reaching the hospital.

No information was released about the relationships of the individuals who were attending the card game and who the suspect is, how many people witnessed the incident, or what the circumstances were that led to the argument and the subsequent shooting.

Authorities are now actively investigating the shootings and there has been no further information on if there would be any arrests.

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