NY health provider may have fraudulently obtained COVID-19 vaccine

South African health officials announced Sunday the country recorded 9,502 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nation's total case number to 1,004,413.

South Africa's Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize also reported 214 new coronavirus fatalities, which brings the total death toll to 26,735.

The positivity rate was 32.2% Sunday, according to the health data.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week that they discovered a new variant of the virus that "may be associated with increased transmissibility and a higher viral load than the previously circulating variants."

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou contributed to this report

New York state's coronavirus hospitalization numbers have jumped to a level not seen since the middle of May, according to data released Sunday by the state Health Department.

About 7,183 New Yorkers are hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms statewide, the health data showed. New York's hospitalization numbers have been below 7,000 since May 11, according to the health data.

Statewide hospitalizations peaked at 18,825 on April 12, when New York was the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S., the health data showed.

Although hospitalizations went down during the rest of the spring and summer, the state's hospitalization rate has been steadily increasing since Oct. 1, when there were 648 people hospitalized, the Health Department data showed.

There were 1,187 coronavirus patients in Intensive Care Units and 687 of them were intubated, the Health Department said.

The state peaked with 5,225 patients in ICUs on April 13, data showed.

Beijing government officials are tightening epidemic prevention measures after the first local COVID-19 infection in over five months was reported on Dec. 18. and the numbers continue to increase. on Sunday, China's National Health Commission reported 22 newly diagnosed cases, eight of which were in Beijing.

“There have been many sporadic outbreaks. The epidemic control situation is very severe,” a Beijing government spokesperson said on Sunday, according to the South China Morning Post. “All districts, all agencies and units must enter a state of emergency response and fight … with more resolution and stricter rules to prevent the spread of the coronavirus,” the spokesperson said.

Mass testing is in progress in two Beijing districts where new cases have been detected. By Saturday, at least 1,072,683 samples had been collected, according to the South China Morning Post.

Beijing government officials have imposed several control measures:

-Residents have been advised not to leave Beijing during the upcoming New Year and Spring Festival holidays.

-The city is imposing restrictions on entertainment venues and tourism to avoid gatherings during the holidays.

-Districts where new cases were identified were closed off, strict access controls are in place.

-Beijing travel agencies are banned from offering vacation packages to other cities in China where new COVID-19 cases have been reported.

-International travel has been banned.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams appeared on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday and discussed the skepticism from many African Americans about the COVID-19 vaccine and how the community can be convinced it's safe and effective.

Adams said acknowledging the history of medical racism and what's still happening in the U.S. today is key.

"I've talked about Tuskegee. I've talked about Henrietta Lacks. But there are real issues going on today, right now in this country, when you look at 700 women dying of pregnancy-related complications, most of them black and brown in the United States. When you look at not just hypertension and cancer disparities," Adams said.

The surgeon general said health equity is critical.

"We need to engage with trusted influencers. We need to make sure our pastors, and imams and rabbis, all of whom I'm working with, have the facts so that they can spread it to -- to their congregants," he said. "I want people to know that as a scientist, as a doctor, I've looked at the data. I know the protections that are in place. I know an African-American female helped develop this vaccine and Tony Fauci and I made sure that the trials were enrolled with diverse participants."