Scooters are seen parked on a street in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sept. 16, 2020. (File photo: Xinhua)

The total number of deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide has increased to 938,820 with the global confirmed cases reaching 29,743,406 as of 9 am BJT on Thursday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University (JHU). 

Current situation (data as of 9 am BJT, September 17):

No new locally-transmitted COVID-19 cases were reported Wednesday across the Chinese mainland, the National Health Commission said Thursday. Meanwhile, nine confirmed COVID-19 cases arriving from outside the mainland were reported, the commission said in its daily report.

It will be the late second quarter or third quarter of 2021 before a COVID-19 vaccine is generally available to the American public, said Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Robert Redfield on Wednesday.

The Brazilian government announced on Wednesday that the country registered 987 deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the last 24 hours, bringing the national death toll to 134,106.

Iran's total COVID-19 cases reached 410,334 on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Iraqi health officials warn of a new wave of infections.

Turkey reported 1,771 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, raising the total diagnosed patients to 296,391, the Turkish Health Ministry announced.

China's Taiwan reported a new confirmed case of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing to 500 its total number of cases since the epidemic began, the island's epidemic monitoring agency said.