Coronavirus updates: Global death toll surpasses 1 million

The United States leads the world in deaths, with a fifth of all fatalities.

ByMorgan Winsor, Matt Zarrell, Ivan Pereira, and Marc Nathanson
Video byJessie DiMartino
Last Updated: October 6, 2020, 6:36 AM EDT

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1 million people worldwide.

Over 33.2 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 7.1 million diagnosed cases and at least 204,778 deaths.

California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 809,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 758,000 cases and over 700,000 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.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news developed today. All times Eastern.
Sep 28, 2020, 4:55 AM EDT

India's case count tops 6 million

India confirmed another 82,170 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, pushing its tally soaring past 6 million.

An additional 1,039 coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded. The country's cumulative total now stands at 6,074,703 confirmed cases and 95,542 deaths, according to the latest data from the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

A medical worker collects a swab sample from a woman for a COVID-19 test in New Delhi, India, on Sept. 28, 2020.
Prakash Singh/AFP via Getty Images

India is only the second country in the world to surpass 6 million total cases. The vast country of 1.3 billion people has the highest COVID-19 infection rate of anywhere in the world. It's expected to become the pandemic's worst-hit nation within the coming weeks, overtaking the United States, where more than 7.1 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

India also has the highest number of recovered COVID-19 patients in the world, with more than 5 million people who have survived the disease. The country's recovery rate stands at 82%, according to the health ministry.

Related Topics

Sponsored Content by Taboola