By MORGAN WINSOR and ERIN SCHUMAKER, ABC News(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 85.2 million people worldwide and killed over 1.8 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.Here’s how the news developed Monday. All times Eastern:
Jan 04, 8:04 pmUS sees another record day of COVID-19 hospitalizationsDespite a backlog in data on COVID-19 cases and deaths over the holiday weekend, the United States still marked a record level of coronavirus-related hospitalizations, according to data collected by The COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer-run effort to track the U.S. outbreak.The data shows there were 128,120 people hospitalized across the country on Monday.The COVID Tracking Project warned that data on testing, cases and deaths has been affected by the holidays.”Hospitalization data remains the most stable metric despite the reporting disruptions. The 7-day average is now over 125k,” the group wrote on Twitter Monday.The COVID Tracking Project also noted that the seven-day average for COVID-19 deaths is increasing in 30 U.S. states.”We expect the daily death numbers to increase significantly once the reporting trends stabilize post-holidays, in part due to backlogs,” the group tweeted.
Jan 04, 6:22 pmLos Angeles County saw cases double in DecemberHealth officials in Los Angeles County gave a dire warning to residents on Monday, particularly to those who are protesting mask mandates and other coronavirus-related rules, saying the situation is bound to get worse in the coming weeks.The county has reported a total of more than 800,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, half of which were marked in December, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.About 7,697 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, and 10,850 deaths from the disease have been registered in the county, according to the health officials.Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, warned that hospitalizations could rise to 9,500 in two weeks.”We’re likely to experience the worst conditions in January that we faced the entire pandemic and that’s hard to imagine,” Ferrer said at a press conference Monday.Ferrer and other officials spoke out against recent anti-mask protests held in the county.”This isn’t just about you. The facts are the facts, and they are grounded in science,” said Dr. Christina Ghaly, director for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Service.”Wearing a mask is not a statement about how you feel about your own health and your invulnerability,” she added. “It’s primarily a statement about how committed you are to protecting the lives and the health of those around you.”
Jan 04, 4:53 pmUniversity installs COVID-19 test kit vending machinesThe University of California, San Diego has installed vending machines on campus where students and staff can pick up self-administered COVID-19 test kits.To use the kits, which are free, test takers use the swab outdoors and return the vile within 72 hours, for results in less than two days.Starting Jan. 2, on-campus students are required to get weekly tests, according to the university.
Jan 04, 4:50 pmUK variant detected in New YorkA new variant of the novel coronavirus that was first identified in the United Kingdom has been detected in New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.The patient is a man in Saratoga Country in his 60s, who had not traveled recently, suggesting community spread of the variant. The patient was affiliated with a jewelry store, N. Fox Jewelers, where three other people have also tested positive for COVID-19, although it is not yet known if they have the same virus variant. Anyone who visited the store between Dec. 18 and 24 is being asked to contact the state and get a test immediately.”From a public health point of view, it’s about contact tracing,” Cuomo said. “We have to make sure we are doing everything we can do to effective contact tracing of this case.”Cases of the new variant have also been detected in Colorado, California and Florida.Jan 04, 3:35 pmEngland moves to full national lockdownBritish Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday a strict nationwide lockdown for England, as a new variant of the novel coronavirus that was first identified in the United Kingdom continues to spread rapidly and rising COVID-19 infections strain the country’s health care system.Under the new restrictions, nonessential workers are only allowed to leave home for essential food and medicine or to exercise. Meanwhile, all schools and universities must shift to remote learning.”We must go into a national lockdown that is tough enough to contain this variant,” Johnson said Monday.While nonessential shops and hair salons are ordered to close, supermarkets, garden centers and churches can stay open. Restaurants can continue offering takeout and delivery services, but customers aren’t allowed to add alcohol to their orders.The lockdown, which goes into effect immediately and is to be in place until mid-February, will be enforced by police.The announcement comes as the U.K. saw a record 58,784 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, along with an additional 407 deaths from the disease.Prior to the nationwide lockdown being announced, England was under a set of tiered COVID-19 restrictions, with London in the highest level 4.Although Johnson is the U.K. prime minister, his government is only responsible for lockdown restrictions in England because public health legislation is devolved to national governments within the U.K., meaning that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are responsible for their own coronavirus-related policies.Jan 04, 3:24 pmMember of UK Parliament arrested for breaking COVID-19 rulesScottish authorities arrested and charged Parliament Member Margaret Ferrier following an investigation that found she broke COVID-19 rules in September, according to the Police Service of Scotland.Ferrier traveled between Glasgow and London twice while she had COVID-19 symptoms, and in the second instance was aware she had tested positive for the virus.”We can confirm that officers today arrested and charged a 60-year-old woman in connection with alleged culpable and reckless conduct,” a Police Scotland spokesperson said in a statement Monday. “This follows a thorough investigation by Police Scotland into an alleged breach of coronavirus regulations between 26 and 29 September 2020.”Ferrier, a member of the Scottish National Party, posted an apology on Twitter in October:”On Monday evening I received a positive test results for COVID-19,” she tweeted. “I travelled home by train on Tuesday morning without seeking advice. This was also wrong and I am sorry. I have been self-isolating at home ever since.”Ferrier was suspended by the Scottish National Party after information about her infraction came to light, but has so far resisted calls for her resignation.Jan 04, 2:05 pmNurse who was first in US to receive COVID-19 vaccine gets second shotSandra Lindsay, director of critical care nursing at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York City, became the first person in the United States to complete a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine course outside of a clinical trial on Monday, 21 days after she was given her initial Pfizer/BioNTech vaccination on Dec. 14.”I feel good,” Lindsay told reporters Monday. “I don’t feel any way different before I got it. I hope the vaccine is available to everyone as it was for me.” The Pfizer vaccine has been shown to be 95% effective after two doses.
Jan 04, 1:48 pmUK poised to move to highest coronavirus alert levelThe United Kingdom is expected to announce tight lockdown restrictions Monday, following a recommendation from the nation’s chief medical officers to move to the highest coronavirus alert level — alert level 5 — across the country. The U.K. has been at alert level 4 since September.”Cases are rising almost everywhere, in much of the country driven by the new more transmissible variant,” the chief medical officers said in a statement. “We are not confident that the NHS can handle a further sustained rise in cases and without further action there is a material risk of the NHS in several areas being overwhelmed over the next 21 days.”Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to announce additional measure to control the virus during a televised address Monday evening.
Jan 04, 12:07 pmEntire NCAA Tournament to be held in IndianaThe entire 2021 NCAA men’s championship basketball tournament will be held in Indiana, the NCAA announced Monday.
? TOURNAMENT UPDATE ? In 49 states, it’s just basketball. But this is Indiana! The entire 2021 NCAA Tournament will be played in Indiana.? https://t.co/pGHfOjbm6n pic.twitter.com/OhWhkmX3RE
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) January 4, 2021
The NCAA is partnering with the local health department in Marion County to test players, coaching staff, administrators and officials for COVID-19. Teams will stay on dedicated hotel floors and meetings and dining halls with be socially distanced.”The Marion County Health Department has approved medical protocols shared by the NCAA and will continue collaborating with the NCAA leading up to and during the championship,” the NCAA said in a statement.The majority of those contests will be held in Indianapolis.The 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jan 04, 11:49 amRecord number of Americans hospitalized with COVID-19A record-breaking 125,544 Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, with six states — Alabama, California, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas — reporting record hospitalizations on Jan. 3.While daily COVID-19 figures remain skewed because of a holiday-related backlog, data from December shows a grim trend, according to an ABC News analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project. December was the worst month so far for infections, hospitalizations and deaths. In less than eight weeks, the U.S. jumped from 10 million cases to 20 million cases on Jan. 1.Over the course of December, the U.S. reported 77,082 deaths from the virus, bringing the national death toll to 351,590, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The U.S., which leads the world in COVID-19 fatalities, accounts for nearly 20% of the world’s total death toll.In different terms, 1 in every 940 Americans has died of COVID-19.
Jan 04, 10:27 amScotland to return to full lockdownScotland will re-enter a nationwide lockdown at midnight in an effort to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the move Monday, telling Scottish Parliament that people across the mainland will be required to stay at home until at least the end of January. People must work from home where possible, group exercise will be banned, places of worship must shutter and schools will remain closed to most students.The island areas will remain under Level 3 restrictions but will be closely monitored, Sturgeon said. All of Scotland has been under either Level 3 or 4 restrictions in recent weeks.The situation will be reviewed on Jan. 18, Sturgeon said.The new restrictions come as the country battles a rise in COVID-19 infections, with 15% of tests currently returning a positive result. Sturgeon told Scottish Parliament that she was “more concerned about the situation we face now than I have been at any time since March last year.””It is essential that we further limit interaction between different households to stem the spread and bring the situation back under control, while we vaccinate more people,” the first minister said. “In short, we must return for a period to a situation much closer to the lockdown of last March.”Jan 04, 9:47 amNew York becomes 4th US state to surpass 1 million total casesMore than 1 million people in New York state have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.The Empire State surpassed the grim milestone over the weekend, becoming only the fourth U.S. state to do so. To date, New York has confirmed a total of 1,023,897 COVID-19 cases, including at least 38,415 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins data.California has the highest total of any U.S. state by far with more than 2.4 million cases, followed by Texas’s 1.8 million and Florida’s 1.3 million.
Jan 04, 9:40 amSchools reopen in Kenya after nearly 10 months Schools fully reopened across Kenya on Monday for the first time in nearly 10 months.
The Kenyan government shut down schools nationwide in March, after the East African nation confirmed its first COVID-19 case. The government reopened schools for students in grades 4, 8 and 12 who were preparing for final exams. The remainder — some 16 million schoolchildren — were expected to return to classrooms Monday.The government has asked school officials and teachers to implement public health measures, such as social distancing and hygiene guidelines, to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.Still, teachers have expressed concern over the safety of their students and themselves amid the pandemic. Wilson Sossion, secretary-general of the Kenya National Union of Teachers, told BBC’s Newsday that the level of preparation on COVID-19 safety measures ahead of the reopening was “quite inadequate.””When you give such directives to schools and you don’t give them funding,” Sossion said, “how are they expected to implement?”Kenya, a country of 51 million people, has reported more than 96,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including at least 1,685 deaths, according to the latest data from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Jan 04, 8:23 amTSA screens over 3.3 million travelers during holiday weekend
More than 3.3 million people went through airport security checkpoints across the United States over the holiday weekend, despite public health guidance against traveling due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it screened 805,990 individuals at checkpoints nationwide on Friday, New Year’s Day, along with 1,192,881 on Saturday and 1,327,289 on Sunday. Sunday’s total was the highest checkpoint volume that TSA has recorded since the pandemic began. That means the total for the entire holiday travel period — beginning Dec. 18 and ending Sunday — was more than 17.7 million people, which is far higher than what analysts had been forecasting.
Jan 04, 7:59 amHHS secretary ‘surprised there haven’t been more glitches’ in vaccine rollout
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said the nationwide distribution of COVID-19 vaccines is still on track and that he’s “surprised there haven’t been more glitches.”
“We said our goal was to have 20 million first doses available in the month of December. Those are available, but there’s a lag between doses being available, them being ordered by the providers in the states, shipping and then eventual vaccination, especially when you have Christmas and New Year’s in the middle,” Azar told ABC News’ Robin Roberts in an interview Monday on Good Morning America.
“This is just — it’s normal,” he added. “This is the largest vaccination campaign in the history of the United States. I’m actually surprised there haven’t been more glitches that we’ve seen so far.”Azar’s comments come after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published an update on the country’s vaccine rollout, showing that 13,071,925 doses have been distributed and 4,225,756 have been administered as of 9 a.m. ET on Jan. 2. Some states have faced delays or other issues with their rollouts, with people being turned away at vaccination sites.But Azar said there’s been “a very rapid uptick” in just the last 72 hours of reporting, with an additional 1.5 million vaccine doses administered.”I’m very hopeful that we’re going to see a continued rapid uptick in that,” he said. “Our states are on it, w’re working with our governors, we’re providing them help.”
Jan 04, 6:07 amTokyo, other areas of Japan poised for state of emergency as infections climbTokyo and other areas of Japan may enter a state of emergency as COVID-19 infections continue to climb.”The number of people infected with the novel coronavirus has not gone down, but rather has remained high in Tokyo and the neighboring prefectures,” Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference Monday. “With that in mind, we thought we needed to send a stronger message.”Suga did not say when a state of emergency would go into effect but that the “details will be decided quickly.” The announcement is expected to come before the end of the week.Declaring a state of emergency would give the governors of those respective regions the authority to ask residents for cooperation in efforts to stem the spread of the virus. There are currently no legal ramifications for non-compliance.Suga’s predecessor, Shinzo Abe, declared a nationwide state of emergency relatively early in the pandemic in April, which lasted for a month. At that time, residents were asked to reduce person-to-person contact by 80% and to practice “jishuku,” or “self-restraint,” by staying at home and closing non-essential businesses.Suga has said any upcoming state of emergency will be implemented in a “limited and focused” manner, leading some to speculate that the demands won’t be drastic. Restrictive measures could also disrupt preparations for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which was postponed to this year.During Monday’s press conference, Suga also pledged to speed up efforts to approve COVID-19 vaccines and to begin immunizing the country’s senior citizens, health care workers and nursing home employees in late February.COVID-19 infections soared in Tokyo over the holidays. On New Year’s Eve, the Japanese capital reported over 1,300 newly confirmed cases for the first time in a single day. Nationwide, more than 245,000 cases have been confirmed since the start of the pandemic, including at least 3,645 deaths, according to the latest data from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.Japan also recently detected several confirmed cases of the new, more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus that was first identified in the United Kingdom last month.Jan 04, 4:55 amSouth Africa variant ‘even more of a problem’ than UK strain, health secretary saysA new variant of the novel coronavirus identified in South Africa is “even more of a problem” than the highly contagious strain spreading rapidly in the United Kingdom, according to British Health Secretary Matt Hancock.”I’m incredibly worried about the South African variant, and that’s why we took the action that we did to restrict all flights from South Africa,” Hancock said in an interview Monday on BBC Radio 4’s Today program.”This is a very, very significant problem,” he added, “and it’s even more of a problem than the U.K. new variant.”Last month, the U.K. introduced a ban on travelers who have been in or transited through South Africa in the last 10 days due to an “increased risk” from the country’s variant, called 501Y.V2. The travel ban does not apply to British or Irish nationals, U.K. visa holders and permanent residents, but they must self-quarantine.The new rule comes as the U.K. grapples with a new, more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus that was identified in England in late December. The strain, called B117, is currently prevalent in London and other parts of southeast England. It was also confirmed in the United States for the first time on Tuesday.The South Africa variant was detected in the U.K. for the first time last week, linked to a contact of someone who had been in South Africa.South African scientists say 501Y.V2 emerged after the first epidemic wave in a severely affected metropolitan area, Nelson Mandela Bay, located on the coast of South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.”This lineage spread rapidly, becoming within weeks the dominant lineage in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces,” researchers wrote in a scientific paper published last month. “Whilst the full significance of the mutations is yet to be determined, the genomic data, showing the rapid displacement of other lineages, suggest that this lineage may be associated with increased transmissibility.”South Africa, a nation of 57 million people, has reported more than 1.1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including at least 29,577 deaths. The country makes up for nearly 40% of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa, a continent of 1.2 billion people, according to the latest data from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The U.K., an island nation of 66 million people made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, has reported more than 2.6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including at least 75,024 deaths, according to the latest data from the U.K. government. A count kept by Johns Hopkins University shows the U.K. currently has the sixth-highest total of diagnosed cases in the world.Jan 04, 3:37 amUK becomes first country to roll out Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccineRollout of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by England’s University of Oxford and British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca began in the United Kingdom on Monday morning.Brian Pinker, an 82-year-old dialysis patient, was the first person in the country — and the world — to receive the newly approved vaccine outside of a clinical trial, according to a press release from National Health Service (NHS) England. He told reporters that he felt “pretty good” after getting the shot at Churchill Hospital in Oxford, England.”I am so pleased to be getting the COVID vaccine today and really proud that it is one that was invented in Oxford,” Pinker, who was born and raised in Oxford, said in a statement released by NHS England. “The nurses, doctors and staff today have all been brilliant and I can now really look forward to celebrating my 48th wedding anniversary with my wife Shirley later this year.”Trevor Cowlett, an 88-year-old music teacher and father of three, and Dr. Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and chief investigator into the clinical trial of the shot, were also among the first to get the jab Monday.”It was an incredibly proud moment for me to have received the actual vaccine that the University of Oxford and the AstraZeneca teams have worked so hard to make available to the UK and the world,” Pollard said in a statement released by NHS England. “As a pediatrician specialising in infections, I know how important it is that health care workers along with other priority groups are protected as soon as possible — a crucial role in defeating this terrible disease.”NHS England said the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will be delivered to a small number of U.K. hospitals for the first few days for “surveillance purposes, as is standard practice, before the bulk of supplies are send to hundreds of GP-led services later in the week.” Hundreds of new vaccination sites are set to open this week, in addition to the 700 already in operation.The U.K. became the first country to approve the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency supply last week. Another COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech was authorized in the U.K. on Dec. 2 and rollout began a week later. Both vaccines are administered in two doses.Jan 04, 2:34 amUS reports over 210,000 new casesThere were 210,479 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the United States on Sunday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.It’s the second straight day that the country has reported more than 200,000 newly confirmed infections. Sunday’s tally is less than the all-time high of 297,491 new cases, which the country logged the previous day, Johns Hopkins data shows.An additional 1,396 deaths from COVID-19 were also registered nationwide on Sunday, down from a peak of 3,750 on Dec. 30, according to Johns Hopkins data.COVID-19 data may be skewed due to possible lags in reporting over the holidays followed by a potentially very large backlog.A total of 20,637,537 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 351,580 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins data. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of the pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up over the summer.The numbers lingered around 40,000 to 50,000 from mid-August through early October before surging again to record levels, crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4 and reaching 200,000 for the first time on Nov. 27.Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
