NY health provider may have fraudulently obtained COVID-19 vaccine

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it hasn’t detected the coronavirus variant found in the United Kingdom, with the caveat that an extremely limited number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have been sequenced.  

While there’s evidence the variant could potentially be more transmissible, the fact that it is more predominant in a particular country or area doesn't mean it's more infectious and there's no evidence it causes more severe illness, according to the CDC.

Beginning in January, each state will send at least 10 COVID-19 samples biweekly to the CDC for sequencing and further characterization. 

ABC News' Stephanie Ebbs contributed to this report.

With over 51,000 coronavirus-related deaths recorded in the first three weeks of the month, December is on track to surpass April to become the deadliest month of the pandemic in the U.S., according to ABC News’ analysis of data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project.

Hospitalizations are surging to unprecedented levels, with 115,351 patients currently hospitalized nationwide -- a 38.5% increase in the last month.

December is also set to become the worst month on record for COVID-19 cases in the U.S. The U.S. surpassed 18 million cases on Monday, only four days after reaching 17 million cases, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. 

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.

The European Commission is recommending an end to the United Kingdom’s travel ban in the wake of coronavirus cases in England linked to a new variant of the virus.

The Commission said, “while it is important to take swift temporary precautionary action to limit the further spread of the new strain of the virus and all non-essential travel to and from the UK should be discouraged, essential travel and transit of passengers should be facilitated. Flight and train bans should be discontinued given the need to ensure essential travel and avoid supply chain disruptions.”

France and several other countries closed their borders to Britain on Monday over fears of the new variant.

While the France-England border is closed for U.K. citizens, French citizens can come home from Britain if they have proof of a negative COVID-19 test, France's BFM television reported on Tuesday.

ABC News’ Kirit Radia and Sohel Uddin contributed to this report.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins were vaccinated Tuesday with the newly authorized Moderna vaccine, which the NIH helped develop.

Azar said to the NIH staff, “This is one of your finest accomplishments.”