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

More than 33 million people in the state will be affected by the lockdown.

ByMorgan Winsor, Erin Schumaker, Ivan Pereira, and Emily Shapiro
Video byJessie DiMartino
Last Updated: December 7, 2020, 8:34 AM EST

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 66.4 million people and killed over 1.5 million worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news developed this week. All times Eastern.
Dec 02, 2020, 7:01 PM EST

EPA chief quarantining after COVID exposure

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced he is quarantining after he was exposed to a person who tested positive for the coronavirus.

"He was exposed to an individual who at the time of exposure had not yet tested positive, was wearing a mask, and was/still is asymptomatic," EPA spokesman James Hewitt said in a statement.

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler testifies at a hearing titled "Oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency" in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., May 20, 2020.
Pool New/Reuters, File

Wheeler was slated to speak at the Nixon Library tomorrow for EPA's 50th anniversary, but he said he will give the address virtually.

-ABC News' Stephanie Ebbs

Dec 02, 2020, 6:59 PM EST

48 NBA players test positive in 1st round of results

The NBA and NBA Players Association announced the first results of coronavirus testing among players in the lead-up to its shortened season starting later this month.

The league and union said 48 of the 546 players tested, roughly 8.8%, had positive results. Any player who tested positive will be quarantined away from teammates as training camps begin to open.

Kyle Lowry #7 of the Toronto Raptors drives to the basket against the Boston Celtics during Game Seven of the Eastern Conference SemiFinals of the NBA Playoffs, Sept. 11, 2020, in Orlando, Fla.
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBA via Getty Images

In March the NBA became the first American professional sports league to suspend its season after a player on the Utah Jazz contracted the virus. The suspension of the season, and eventual cancellation, started a domino effect among sports across the country. Games restarted in July under a "bubble" at Orlando's Wide World of Sports Complex. The Los Angeles Lakers won the title in October.

The 2020-2021 season is slated to begin Dec. 22 and will not take place in a "bubble."

Dec 02, 2020, 5:49 PM EST

Moderna to begin vaccine testing on children

Moderna announced in a filing with the federal government that it will begin recruiting volunteers between 12 and 18 years old to participate in its coronavirus vaccine trials.

This listing doesn't say when Moderna will start its trials in children.

It's common in clinical trials to start with adults and then when the safety profile has been established to add more populations like children and pregnant women.

Pfizer has already started recruiting, enrolling and testing its vaccine on children as young as 12 years old.

-ABC News' Eric Strauss

Dec 02, 2020, 5:15 PM EST

HHS purchases 650K courses of antibody treatment

The White House and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced they've purchased over 650,000 courses of of Eli Lilly's monoclonal antibody treatment for high-risk patients.

The treatment, bamlanivimab, can reduce the risk of severe coronavirus symptoms before someone becomes hospitalized.

The treatment will be deployed in December and January and complement the 300,000 doses that are currently being distributed, according to HHS.

Eli Lilly received emergency use authorization for bamlanivimab from the Food and Drug Administration last month.

-ABC News' Stephanie Ebbs

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