Coronavirus updates: 84% of California population to go on lockdown Sunday night

The White House is planning to host a "COVID-19 Vaccine Summit" on Dec. 8, according to deputy press secretary Brian Morgenstern.

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, as well as several governors and executives from the private sector, plan to participate in the meeting, Morgenstern told ABC News.

The meeting is scheduled two days before the Food and Drug Administration's Advisory Committee on Immunizations is scheduled to consider Pfizer's application for the emergency use authorization for its vaccine.

"The President looks forward to convening leaders from the federal government, state governments, private sector, military, and scientific community for a comprehensive discussion with the American people as the Administration prepares to deliver this historic, life-saving vaccine to every zip code in the United States within 24 hours of an FDA approval," Morgenstern said in a statement.

It does not appear that members of President-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration had been invited to the meeting. Given that the presidential inauguration is scheduled for Jan. 20, it is likely that Biden would be president when most of the vaccine distribution would occur.

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson and Brian Hartman contributed to this report.

More than 4.2 million people in the United States were diagnosed with COVID-19 in the month of November alone -- a figure that's higher than the total number of confirmed cases for every other country in the world except Brazil and India, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.

The number is roughly equivalent to one in every 76 Americans testing positive for COVID-19 in November, or 99 Americans testing positive every minute.

Throughout the month of November, the country saw a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases, recording more than 100,000 each day since Nov. 4 -- 27 straight days. At least 40 U.S. states and Puerto Rico reported a record number of daily cases in November.

The United States is currently averaging 158,000 new cases per day, a 96% increase in the country's seven-day average from the start of November. However, it's difficult to know exactly where the country stands given the data inconsistencies due to lags in reporting over Thanksgiving followed by backlogs from the holiday.

November also marked the deadliest month for COVID-19 in the United States since May, with 36,745 fatalities from the disease. The country currently accounts for 18.3% of the global death toll in the coronavirus pandemic. The nation's seven-day average of daily COVID-19 deaths has increased by nearly 80% since the beginning of November.

Last week, there were two days with over 2,000 new deaths reported nationwide -- the first time that threshold had been crossed on consecutive days since late April.

Meanwhile, more Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 now than ever before. That figure topped 96,000 on Monday and is well on track to surpass 100,000 before the end of the week.

The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in western states is now the highest it's been since the beginning of the pandemic, while that figure is reaching near records in midwestern and southern states. In turn, states across the country are warning that hospital systems are on the brink of collapse.

ABC News' Benjamin Bell, Brian Hartman, Soorin Kim and Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.

Dr. Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, was seen arriving at the White House on Tuesday morning ahead of his scheduled meeting with President Donald Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

It's unclear if Trump is participating in the meeting.

A source told ABC News that the meeting was called amid frustrations that the FDA hasn't moved faster in authorizing emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

Hahn issued a statement ahead of the meeting, defending his agency's timeline.

"Let me be clear -- our career scientists have to make the decision and they will take the time that’s needed to make the right call on this important decision," Hahn said. "We want to move quickly because this is a national emergency, but we will make sure that our scientists take the time they need to make an appropriate decision. It is our job to get this right and make the correct decision regarding vaccine safety and efficacy."

The FDA is already moving at an accelerated pace in going through data related to the vaccine candidate, but it's a process that takes weeks given the sheer volume and the stakes for getting it right.

"The amount of data submitted to the FDA includes thousands of pages of technical information that must be divided up and reviewed by experts from different disciplines. Once the reviews by the various experts are completed, they are then integrated into an overall review," a spokesperson for the agency told ABC News in a statement Tuesday. "Completion of these reviews involves such things as ensuring that the manufacturing process and the controls on manufacturing are appropriate, checking statistical analyses performed to ensure that they were done properly and doing additional analyses, as necessary, to look at the effect of the vaccine on subsets of individuals who might be at greater risk of adverse effects."

Meanwhile, an FDA spokesperson also confirmed to ABC News that Hahn had recently self-quarantined "out of an abundance of caution," following potential exposure at the agency's campus in White Oak, Maryland. He chose a remote location and continued working.

"Dr. Hahn has worked every single day of this pandemic, including weekends, holidays and more," the spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday.

ABC News' Katherine Faulders, Anne Flaherty and Jordyn Phelps contributed to this report.

Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton said he will miss the Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain this weekend after testing positive for COVID-19.

After having three negative test results this past week, the 35-year-old British racing driver said he woke up Monday morning with "mild symptoms" and requested another test which came back positive. He said he has immediately gone into self-isolation for 10 days.

"I'm devastated that I won't be racing this weekend," Hamilton said in a statement posted on his official Instagram account Tuesday. "Since we started the season in June, my team and I have been taking all the precautions we possibly can and following the regulations everywhere we've been in order to stay safe."

Hamilton, whose victory at the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul on Nov. 15 sealed the Formula One championship and his record-equaling seventh world title, said he considers himself "really lucky" to only have mild symptoms and that he will do his best "to stay fit and healthy."

"Please look after yourselves out there, you can never be too careful," he said. "These are worrying times for everyone and we need to make sure we are looking after ourselves and each other."