Coronavirus updates: Los Angeles to prohibit gatherings, close playgrounds

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said the nation is "at a dire point" in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, "by any measure."

"Cases, positivity, hospitalizations, deaths -- we are seeing more Americans negatively impacted than ever before. But I also want Americans to understand that we've never had more reason for hope, thanks to science," Adams told ABC News' Cecilia Vega in an interview Monday on "Good Morning America."

"We're going to have people -- the vulnerable -- start to be vaccinated in mere weeks," he added. "So I"m asking Americans, I'm begging you, hold on just a little bit longer, keep Thanksgiving and the celebrations small and smart this year."

Adams advised people to hold Thanksgiving and holiday celebrations outdoors if possible, to keep the gatherings small -- ideally less than 10 attendees -- and to prepare ahead of time.

"Make sure you're not going around out in public and exposing yourself to other people, especially now heading into these celebrations," he said.

When asked about the White House's controversial plans to hold holiday parties indoors, Adams said the public health guidelines "apply to everyone."

"We want everyone to understand that these holiday celebrations can be super-spreader events, so we want them to be smart and we want them to be as small as possible," he said. "These apply to the White House, they apply to the American people, they apply to everyone."

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak has ordered a three-week "statewide pause" that begins Tuesday to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

"I am not issuing a shutdown order," Sisolak said during a virtual press conference Sunday evening. "My goal is to aggressively try to attack this spread, while maintaining some portion of our economy and our daily lives."

Under the pause, residents will be required to wear face masks in private and public gatherings. Public gatherings will be limited to 50 people or to 25% capacity, whichever number is lower. Private gatherings will be limited to 10 people from no more than two households.

Sisolak said no additional businesses will be closed, but bars and restaurants will only be able to operate at 25% capacity with no more than four people per table. Gyms and fitness studios may operate with no more than 25% capacity while adhering to strict social distancing guidelines. Retail establishments including mall can continue operating at 50%.

"I know the majority of our bars and restaurants are doing their best, but these settings have proved to be high risk because they allow the opportunity for people to remove their face coverings in indoor settings around people outside of their households," Sisolak said. "That’s how the virus spreads."

ABC News' Marilyn Heck contributed to this report.

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.

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.

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 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.