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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 23, 2020, 3:04 PM EST

California reports 39,069 daily cases

Hard-hit California reported 39,069 daily cases on Wednesday -- a 2% increase from Tuesday.

Registered Nurse Carina Klescewski and Phlebotomist lab assistant Jennifer Cukati care for a COVID-19 patient inside the Sutter Roseville Medical Center ICU in Roseville, Calif., on Dec. 22, 2020.
Renee C. Byer/The Sacramento Bee via AP

A healthcare worker gives a COVID-19 test at the CityTestSF at Alemany Farmer's Market location during the coronavirus pandemic in San Francisco, Dec. 22, 2020.
Jeff Chiu/AP

California’s daily cases are more than the daily cases in the United Kingdom, Russia, India, Italy and France, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

California is recording more than twice as many daily cases than the next hardest-hit states. Tennessee recorded 16,036 cases Tuesday and Texas had 16,607 cases, according to Johns Hopkins.

Intensive Care Unit Nurse Merlin Pambuan, 66, is hugged by hospital staff as she walks out of the hospital where she spent 8 months with the coronavirus disease, at Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center, in Long Beach, Calif., Dec. 21, 2020.
Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

ABC News’ Bonnie Mclean contributed to this report.

Dec 23, 2020, 2:19 PM EST

Over 1 million Americans have received 1st vaccine dose

At least 1,008,025 Americans had received their first dose of the vaccine as of 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to a tally from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

PHOTO: A patient at Crown Heights Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation is given a plant to congratulate him after he received the coronavirus disease vaccine from Walgreens Pharmacist Annette Marshall, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Dec. 22, 2020.
A patient at Crown Heights Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, a nursing home facility, is given a plant to congratulate him after he received the coronavirus disease vaccine from Walgreens Pharmacist Annette Marshall, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Dec. 22, 2020.
Yuki Iwamura/Reuters

There have been 9,465,725 doses distributed across the country.

ABC News’ Eric Strauss contributed to this report.

Dec 23, 2020, 12:20 PM EST

1st New York City EMTs get vaccinated

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

Members of the Fire Department of New York Emergency Medical Services fill out forms as they prepare to receive their coronavirus vaccine on Dec. 23, 2020, in New York.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

A worker of the New York City Fire Department Bureau of Emergency Medical Services receives a COVID-19 vaccine in the Manhattan borough of New York, Dec. 23, 2020.
Carlo Allegri/Reuters

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.

Dec 23, 2020, 11:16 AM EST

UK travelers must quarantine upon arrival in NYC

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.