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NY health provider may have fraudulently obtained COVID-19 vaccine

The vaccine was then given to members of the public not yet eligible.

ByRosa Sanchez, Emily Shapiro, and Ivan Pereira
Last Updated: December 29, 2020, 11:11 AM EST

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 80.2 million people worldwide and killed over 1.7 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.
Dec 22, 2020, 8:51 PM EST

US records 3,100 more deaths as hospitalizations reach record high

The country reached another 3,131 deaths Tuesday as the coronavirus hospitalization numbers surpassed another record, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

There are 117,777 Americans hospitalized with the virus, according to the health data.

The seven-day average for hospitalizations, 114,621, and deaths, 2,654, were also record figures, the tracking project said.

"Hospitalizations are rapidly rising in Texas, Florida, and Georgia," the tracking project tweeted.

Dec 22, 2020, 8:27 PM EST

LA County surpasses 9,000 deaths

Los Angeles County's Health Department reported that it has surpassed 9,000 coronavirus related deaths Tuesday.

The county recorded more than 1,000 deaths since Dec. 8, which is an average of nearly 73 COVID-19 deaths per day over the past two weeks, the Health Department said.

There are 5,866 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized in Los Angeles, a record high, the Health Department said. About 20% of these patients are in the ICU, the Health Department said.

Dec 22, 2020, 6:39 PM EST

US COVID hospital patients reach spring peak: HHS

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.

Dec 22, 2020, 4:40 PM EST

AstraZeneca says its vaccine should be effective against new coronavirus variant

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.

Pedestrians wearing a face mask or covering due to the COVID-19 pandemic, walk along Oxford Street in central London, Dec. 22, 2020.
Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images

ABC News’ Sohel Uddin contributed to this report.