Myriam Borzee/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed over a quarter of a million people worldwide.

More than 3.6 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 governments are hiding the scope of their nations’ outbreaks.

Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the United States has become the worst-affected country, with more than 1.2 million diagnosed cases and at least 71,0078 deaths.

Here’s how the news is developing Wednesday. All times Eastern:

5:54 a.m.: Russia reports over 10,000 new cases for fourth straight day

Russia reported more than 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday for the fourth day in a row.

The country’s coronavirus response headquarters said 10,559 new infections had been registered in the past 24 hours, just under Sunday’s daily record of 10,633 new cases.

Russia now has 165,929 diagnosed cases of COVID-19. However, the country’s death toll from the disease remains relatively low with just 86 fatalities reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide tally to 1,537, according to the coronavirus response headquarters.

5:20 a.m.: New York City subways shut down overnight for cleaning

All 472 of New York City’s subway stations were closed during the early morning hours of Wednesday, as part of a new plan for the normally 24-hour system to shut down for daily cleanings and to remove homeless people who have been sleeping on nearly empty trains.

The subway trains will now stop running from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. local time each day. More than 1,000 police officers have been assigned to what is the first overnight shutdown of the city’s subway system in at least 50 years.

Officers from the New York City Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Unit, accompanied by nurses, will remove people from subway cars and stations while workers from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority clean.

Most homeless people will be offered space at shelters and in other cases the nurses will decide whether someone needs to be taken to a hospital for their own safety, according to New York City Police Chief of Department Terry Monahan.

4:42 a.m.: Retired farmer who sent New York governor N-95 mask receives honorary degree

A retired Kansas farmer who mailed New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo an N-95 mask to give to a frontline worker there has received an honorary degree from his state.

Dennis Ruhnke of Troy, Kansas, was bestowed with a bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University during a ceremony on Tuesday afternoon.

“In 1971, Dennis was two credits away from earning his degree in agriculture when his father passed away. He chose to leave school to take care of his mother and the family farm,” Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, who presented the degree alongside the university’s president, said in a Facebook post. “Dennis’ kindness and lifelong career in agriculture make him more than qualified to receive a degree.”

Ruhnke sent a letter in March to New York’s governor along with an unused N-95 mask leftover from his farming days. New York has been the worst-affected U.S. state in the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 321,000 diagnosed cases and over 25,000 deaths, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

“If you could, would you please give this mask to a nurse or doctor in your state?” Ruhnke wrote to Cuomo, who subsequently shared the letter on Twitter, calling it “humanity at its best.”

3:36 a.m.: UK coronavirus death toll becomes highest in Europe

The United Kingdom has overtaken Italy as the country with the highest death toll from the novel coronavirus in Europe.

Of the more than 196,000 people in the U.K. who have been diagnosed with COVID-19, at least 29,501 have now died, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University. Italy’s death toll stands at 29,315.

The U.K. now has one of the largest single-country tolls in the world, second only to the United States where 71,078 people have died from COVID-19.

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