By WILLIAM MANSELL, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than one million people worldwide.
Over 34.2 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 7.2 million diagnosed cases and at least 207,789 deaths.
California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 822,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 776,000 cases and over 709,000 cases, respectively.
Nearly 190 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 are being tracked by the World Health Organization, at least nine of which are in crucial phase three trials.
Here is how the news is developing Friday. All times Eastern:
Oct 02, 4:46 am
House passes symbolic COVID-19 stimulus bill
The House passed a $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus relief bill late Thursday night, with a close 214-207 vote.
In some last-minute drama, 18 Democrats voted no on the bill. Many who were against the bill are moderates who are very unhappy with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and leadership for staging what they call a “show” vote on a bill that will never become law.
The Republican-led Senate is not expected to take up the measure.
The House bill is largely symbolic and puts on the record what Democrats have been calling for for months: economic relief for those impacted by the pandemic.
The bill would restore the $600 federal unemployment benefits that expired in July and would include another round of direct checks to Americans at $1,200 per taxpayer and $500 per dependent.
It would also extend the Paycheck Protection Program to help small businesses, a benefit that expired in early August.
A bipartisan COVID-19 relief bill is still possible. Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are still having discussions. Pelosi announced late Thursday that she and Mnuchin have exchanged paper and are still deep in negotiations.
“We made a lot of progress over the last few days, we still don’t have an agreement, but we have more work to do. And we’re going to see where we end up,” Mnuchin told reporters Wednesday.
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