NY health provider may have fraudulently obtained COVID-19 vaccine

About 24% of inpatients in U.S. hospitals have the coronavirus, matching the peak set in April, according to an internal memo from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that was obtained by ABC News.

About 29% of hospitals across the country have more than 80% of their ICU beds filled, according to the memo.

HHS said 34% of ventilators in use are occupied by COVID-19 patients. The peak in April was 45%, according to the agency.

The memo also reported increasing trends with cases and deaths across the country between Dec. 16 and Dec. 22.

During that seven-day period, 1,656,411 new cases were confirmed, according to HHS. This was a 10.8% increase from the previous seven-day period.

There were 18,537 deaths recorded between Dec. 16 and Dec. 22, which was a 7.5% jump from the same period last week.

-ABC News' Josh Margolin contributed to this report.

British drugmaker AstraZeneca told Reuters that its vaccine should be effective against the new COVID-19 variant linked to cases in the United Kingdom.

AstraZeneca said studies are underway to fully probe the impact of the mutation.

ABC News’ Sohel Uddin contributed to this report.

Vaccines are being made available to all Supreme Court Justices, spokeswoman Kathy Arberg told ABC News.

Arberg did not say whether any justices have received the vaccine, citing health privacy laws. 

The oldest justices are Stephen Breyer, 82, and Clarence Thomas, 72.

The National Security Council in recent days moved to extend vaccine access to top government officials to preserve continuity of government. 

ABC News’ Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.

Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said she’s planning to retire but is available to help President-elect Joe Biden’s administration with the pandemic, The Associated Press reported.