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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, 6:07 PM EST

Only 1.1% of ICU beds available in California, Newsom says

California Gov. Gavin Newsom urged residents to heed health warnings during the holiday season as the state's hospital system is pushed to the limit with COVID-19 patients.

He warned there could be multiple surges in cases "unless we are cautious and mindful about our travel plans this holiday season and about our proximity to people outside our households."

The number of the Intensive Care Unit patients is now 3,827, which was nearly double the 2,006 patients on Dec. 1, according to Newsom.

"On Monday, we were at 2.5% ICU availability and now as a state today, we are down to 1.1% ICU bed availability," he said.

"We had 8,517 people that were in our hospitals that tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 1st. Now 18,828 people are testing positive in just a three-week period," Newsom added.

-ABC News' Cammeron Parish contributed to this report

Dec 23, 2020, 4:59 PM EST

Likely ‘tens of thousands’ with new variant in UK

The new COVID-19 variant in the United Kingdom has likely infected tens of thousands of people, Jeffrey Barrett, director of the COVID-19 Genomics Initiative at the U.K. Wellcome Sanger Institute, said at a virtual Q&A hosted by the World Health Organization.

While there are just over 3,000 people who have the full genome sequence confirmed for the variant, only a small fraction of cases are sequenced, he said.

There’s no evidence the new variant is more deadly and it’s highly likely the vaccine will still work, officials said.

ABC News’ Sony Salzman contributed to this report.

Dec 23, 2020, 3:25 PM EST

'Fauci Day' announced in DC

Thursday, Dec. 24, Dr. Anthony Fauci’s 80th birthday, will be "Dr. Anthony S. Fauci" day in Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Wednesday.

"We are incredibly proud to count Dr. Fauci among the many DC residents who are sacrificing so much to keep our communities healthy and safe,” Bowser tweeted.

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.