NY health provider may have fraudulently obtained COVID-19 vaccine

The first New York City EMTs were vaccinated Wednesday morning, with the hopes of inoculating 450 FDNY members per day.

Since the pandemic began -- with New York City as the spring’s epicenter -- 5,700 members of the FDNY have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

On Tuesday, the FDNY lost its 12th employee to COVID-19. EMT Evelyn Ford, 58, leaves behind four children.

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

In the wake of new variants of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom, travelers arriving in New York City from the U.K. will be visited by a sheriff’s deputy to confirm they are quarantining, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

Additionally, all international travelers will receive a city health commissioner’s order to quarantine via certified mail.

Those who are found in violation will face daily $1,000 fines.

“We cannot take chances with anyone who travels,” the mayor said.

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

Another COVID-19 variant has been detected in two cases in the United Kingdom, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.

"Both are contacts of cases who have traveled from South Africa over the past few weeks,” Hancock said.

Hancock said the “new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the U.K."

The health secretary said both cases and close contacts of the cases have been quarantined.

U.K. travel to and from South Africa is suspended, Hancock said.

The coronavirus is constantly mutating, and there are many thousands of lineages of the virus, each with distinct mutations. There's no evidence this new variant is more deadly and there's no evidence it will affect the vaccine.

ABC News' Mike Trew contributed to this report.

Another 803,000 workers lost their jobs and filed for unemployment insurance last week as the pandemic rages, the U.S. Department of Labor said Wednesday. 

The latest figure is slightly less than last week’s figure, but still remains well above pre-pandemic levels. 

The DOL also said Wednesday that some 20.3 million people were still receiving some form of unemployment benefits through all government programs as of the week ending Dec. 5. That figure was 1.7 million for the comparable week in 2019. 

The latest economic data from the DOL also comes as the COVID-19 relief package, which includes extended unemployment benefits, faces a new hurdle as President Donald Trump has indicated he will not sign the bill yet. 

The unemployment rate in the U.S. was 6.7% last month, according to the DOL's most recent employment situation report. In February, prior to the pandemic, the unemployment rate was 3.5%.

-ABC News’ Catherine Thorbecke contributed to this report.