Coronavirus live updates: California tops one million cases

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narvikk/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, EMILY SHAPIRO, IVAN PEREIRA and MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1.29 million people worldwide.

Over 52.6 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 10.5 million diagnosed cases and at least 242,622 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 Friday. All times Eastern:

Nov 13, 7:50 am
Biden COVID advisor: US needs targeted restrictions, not nationwide lockdown

Dr. Vivek Murthy, the co-chair of President-elect Joe Biden’s new coronavirus advisory board and former surgeon general, told ABC News’ Good Morning America Friday that targeted restrictions in specific areas, not a nationwide lockdown, would be the best path forward to combatting the virus.

“I think that’s how we thought about it in the spring, but I think we’ve learned a lot since then about how this virus spreads and what we can do to reduce risk,” he said. “And right now, the way we should be thinking about this is more like a series of restrictions that we dial up or down depending on how bad spread is taking place in a specific region.”

He pointed to the success New York City has had in targeting areas down to the zip code. That approach, he said, also helps lessen the blow on the economy and COVID fatigue.

“We’re not in a place where we’re saying shut the whole country down. We got to be more targeted,” Murthy said. “If we don’t do that, what you’re going to find is that people will become even more fatigued. Schools won’t be open to children and the economy will be hit harder, so we’ve got to follow science, but we’ve also got to be more precise.”

He said to combat the virus, the U.S. will focus on stopping the spread of COVID-19 by zeroing in on the hardest-hit communities and increasing testing.

“We still don’t have adequate testing so anyone who wants a test can get one and get results quickly,” Murthy told GMA. “We still don’t have enough testing to be able to do surveillance testing in universities and workplaces and in other places that are higher risk like prisons and nursing homes so that is an area where you’ll see President-Elect Biden focusing expanding capacity.”

States reported 151,000 cases in the U.S. on Thursday, with 67,000 people hospitalized with the virus, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Both figures are records.

Nov 13, 4:41 am
California surpasses one million COVID cases

California has now passed a grim milestone of over one million confirmed cases of coronavirus.

According to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the state has at least 1,006,099 diagnosed cases.

California becomes only the second state, behind Texas, to reach this threshold.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is now more than 10.55 million, with at least 242,430 deaths.

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