Coronavirus updates: Over 7,000 Americans died in past week

The increase comes less than two weeks after Halloween.

Last Updated: November 18, 2020, 4:38 AM EST

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1.3 million people worldwide.

Over 53.2 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 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.

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 nation, with more than 10.7 million diagnosed cases and at least 244,283 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.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Nov 10, 2020, 9:14 AM EST

Denmark abandons plan for mass mink cull

Denmark's government will not move ahead with its plan to immediately slaughter all 17 million mink in the country, due to legal obstacles and a lack of political backing.

Last week, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced the mass cull of the country's entire mink population -- including those that are healthy -- amid concerns that a COVID-19 mutation moving from farmed mink to humans could evade future vaccines. But on Monday, Danish Environment and Food Minister Mogens Jensen admitted that the government did not have the legal basis for the order.

A truck unloads dead mink into a ditch as Danish health authorities assisted by Danish armed forces bury the animals in a military area near Holstebro, Denmark, on Nov. 9, 2020.
Morten Stricker/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Frederiksen's minority Social Democratic government still plans to put forward emergency legislation to back the cull on Tuesday, but the draft needs a three-quarters majority in parliament and opposition parties have already suggested they won't support it.

There are doubts over whether the mass cull is actually scientifically based as well as concerns that it would threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of mink breeders. Denmark is the largest exporter of mink fur in the world.

Meanwhile, mink breeders will continue to cull any infected animals on farms. As of Tuesday morning, around 2.5 million mink -- both infected and healthy -- have been culled so far, a spokesman for Denmark's Ministry of Environment and Food told ABC News. The animals are gassed and then either incinerated or buried in mass graves on military-owned land.

ABC News' Dragon Jovanovic contributed to this report.

Nov 10, 2020, 6:43 AM EST

Russia registers over 20,000 new cases for 5th day in a row

Russia confirmed 20,977 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, marking the fifth consecutive day where daily infections exceeded 20,000.

An additional 368 deaths from COVID-19 were also registered nationwide over the past day. The cumulative total now stands at 1,817,109 cases with 31,161 deaths, according to Russia's coronavirus response headquarters.

Moscow remains the epicenter of the country's outbreak and recent surge. More than 28% of the newly confirmed cases -- 5,902 -- and over 18% of the new deaths -- 68 -- were reported in the capital, according to the coronavirus response headquarters.

A pedestrian wearing a face mask to protect against the novel coronavirus walks in Moscow, Russia, on Nov. 10, 2020.
Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images

Despite rising infections, Russian authorities have repeatedly said they have no plans to impose another nationwide lockdown.

The Eastern European country 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.

ABC News' Alina Lobzina contributed to this report.

Nov 10, 2020, 5:45 AM EST

Employee at Shanghai's main international airport tests positive

Authorities in China's largest city have quarantined dozens of people after an airport employee tested positive for COVID-19.

A 51-year-old man who works as a freight handler at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, a major aviation hub of East Asia, was confirmed to be infected on Monday and has since been transferred to an area hospital for treatment, authorities said.

It's the first domestic case of COVID-19 reported in Shanghai in months, and it remains unclear how the patient contracted the disease. He has not left Shanghai and reported no history of being in high-risk areas in the 14 days prior to the onset of illness. He also has no history of contact with anyone infected with COVID-19 and has not been to any other hospitals within the past three months, according to authorities.

PHOTO: Residents wearing face masks to protect against the novel coronavirus spend time at a park in Beijing, China, on Nov. 10, 2020.
Residents wearing face masks to protect against the novel coronavirus spend time at a park in Beijing, China, on Nov. 10, 2020. Authorities in China's financial hub of Shanghai have quarantined dozens of people after a freight handler at the city's main international airport tested positive for COVID-19.
Andy Wong/AP

Twenty-six close contacts, including the man's family members and colleagues, have been quarantined and have all tested negative for COVID-19. More than 100 others were also placed in isolation for medical observation, authorities said.

So far, no additional cases have been found.

The local health authority has raised the COVID-19 risk area to medium in the village where the patient lives in Shanghai's district of Pudong. The rest of Shanghai remains low-risk.

Nov 10, 2020, 4:38 AM EST

US sees highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations since July

There were 59,275 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 across the United States on Monday, according to data collected by The COVID Tracking Project.

That figure -- up from 56,768 on Sunday -- marks the largest single-day increase since July 10 and the highest total amount since July 25, The COVID Tracking Project said.

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