COVID-19 live updates: Judge rules governor stop banning mask mandates in schools

Two men died in Japan after receiving shots of Moderna from a batch that was later suspended due to contaminants, Japan’s Health Ministry said Saturday. 

The men were in their 30s and died this month, days after receiving their second Moderna doses, Reuters reported. Moderna’s Japanese partner Takeda pulled three lots of its vaccine in Japan Thursday, after reports of a foreign substance in the vials. 

It’s not clear if the men died due to a problem with the shots and an investigation will take place. 

“At this time, we do not have any evidence that these deaths are caused by the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine," and the company is working closely with the Japanese Ministry of Health to investigate, Moderna said in a statement. 

The pause in Japan does not affect doses distributed in the United States.

Moderna put more than 1.6 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine on hold last week in Japan after it was notified about the potential contamination in some vials of its vaccine. 

To date, more than 200 million doses of the Moderna vaccine have been administered to 110 million people in 45 countries, according to the company.

-ABC News' Sony Salzman and Sasha Pezenik

Despite a court ruling Friday ordering Florida to stop enforcing a ban on school mask mandates, the state's education commissioner has since told eight school districts that they must drop their mandates by Wednesday or potentially face sanctions.

The districts notified on Friday -- which include Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Orange -- adopted mask requirements this month but had yet to hear from the state about repercussions.

In letters sent to leaders of the eight districts, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said he was opening investigations and threatened to withhold the salaries of school board members if the districts didn't reverse their mandates by Wednesday.

Two other districts have already been sanctioned by the state board of education.

State officials have said they plan to appeal Friday's ruling "immediately."

-ABC News' Will McDuffie

As Florida continues to battle a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations, 14 portable morgues are headed to central Florida hospitals. 

ABC News confirmed the order with Lynne Drawdy, executive director of the Central Florida Disaster Medical Coalition, which is sending the coolers.

Each portable morgue can hold up to 12 bodies, Drawdy told ABC Orlando affiliate WFTV.

The coolers will go to hospitals across central Florida, as some have reached morgue capacity due to an influx of COVID-19 patients, and are expected to arrive by Monday, according to WFTV.

A new peer-reviewed study estimates that the delta variant doubles the risk of being hospitalized if you're unvaccinated compared to the alpha variant.

The study -- an analysis of more than 40,000 COVID-19 cases from the United Kingdom -- primarily included unvaccinated people, so the findings don't apply to vaccinated people with breakthrough infections.

Vaccines dramatically reduce the risk of hospitalization and death for both the alpha and delta variants.

-ABC News' Sony Salzman