A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 61 million people and killed over 1.4 million worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Here's how the news developed this week. All times Eastern.
Nov 23, 2020, 7:09 AM EST
Russia reports over 25,000 new cases for 1st time
Russia confirmed 25,173 new cases of COVID-19 and an additional 361 fatalities from the disease in the last 24 hours, according to the country's coronavirus response headquarters.
It's the first time that Russia has reported over 25,000 newly diagnosed infections in a single day, setting a new record for the country. The cumulative total now stands at 2,114,502 confirmed cases, including 36,540 deaths, according to the coronavirus response headquarters.
Children play with a snowman wearing a face mask in a playground in Moscow, Russia, on Nov. 23, 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images
Despite the growing number of infections and deaths, Russian authorities have repeatedly said they have no plans to impose another nationwide lockdown. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday that it's up to regional authorities to decide what measures need to be imposed in their regions to curb the spread of the virus.
The Eastern European nation of 145 million people has the fifth-highest tally of COVID-19 cases in the world, behind only the United States, India, Brazil and France, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
ABC News' Alina Lobzina contributed to this report.
Nov 23, 2020, 5:39 AM EST
US reports over 142,000 new cases
There were 142,732 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the United States on Sunday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
It's the 20th straight day that the country has reported over 100,000 newly diagnosed infections. Sunday's count falls under the all-time high of 196,004 new cases on Nov. 20.
An additional 921 fatalities from COVID-19 were also registered nationwide on Sunday, down from a peak of 2,609 new deaths on April 15.
A waiter wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) returns a credit card to a customer dining outdoors in Manhattan Beach, California, on Nov. 21, 2020, a few hours before the start of the new 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. curfew during increased COVID-19 restrictions.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
A total of 12,247,487 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 256,783 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.
Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country's cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up and crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4.
Nov 23, 2020, 4:41 AM EST
AstraZeneca, Oxford say their vaccine is up to 90% effective
U.K.-based pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and England's University of Oxford announced Monday that late-stage trials show their COVID-19 vaccine was up to 90% effective in preventing the disease.
The results are based on interim analysis of phase 3 trials in the United Kingdom and Brazil, which looked at two different dosing regimens. One regimen showed vaccine efficacy of 90% when the drug, called AZD1222, was given as a half dose, followed by a full dose at least one month apart. A second regimen showed 62% efficacy when given as two full doses at least one month apart. The combined analysis from both dosing regimens showed an average efficacy of 70%, according to press releases from AstraZeneca and Oxford.
There were a total of 131 COVID-19 cases in the analysis, and no hospitalizations or severe cases of the disease were reported in participants receiving the vaccine candidate, according to the press releases.
"These findings show that we have an effective vaccine that will save many lives," Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and chief investigator of the Oxford vaccine trial, said in a statement Monday. "Excitingly, we’ve found that one of our dosing regimens may be around 90% effective and if this dosing regime is used, more people could be vaccinated with planned vaccine supply."
A laboratory technician supervises capped vials during filling and packaging tests for the large-scale production and supply of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca at Catalent's biologics manufacturing facility in Anagni, Italy, on Sept. 11, 2020.
Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images
AstraZeneca, which has promised not to profit from the vaccine "for the duration of the pandemic," said it will now immediately prepare to submit the data to regulators around the world -- including in the United Kingdom, Europe and Brazil -- that have framework in place for conditional or early approval. The company will also seek an emergency use listing from the World Health Organization for an accelerated pathway to vaccine availability in low-income nations.
Meanwhile, Oxford said it is submitting the full analysis of the interim results for independent scientific peer review and publication.
"Today marks an important milestone in our fight against the pandemic," AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said in a statement Monday. "This vaccine’s efficacy and safety confirm that it will be highly effective against COVID-19 and will have an immediate impact on this public health emergency. Furthermore, the vaccine’s simple supply chain and our no-profit pledge and commitment to broad, equitable and timely access means it will be affordable and globally available, supplying hundreds of millions of doses on approval."
The U.K. government has already placed orders for 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine candidate, along with 40 million doses of another developed by Pfizer and BioNTech which has shown to have 95% efficacy.
