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.
Here's how the news developed this week. All times Eastern.
Dec 04, 2020, 5:18 AM EST
Italy reports nearly 1,000 new deaths in all-time high
An additional 993 deaths from COVID-19 were registered in Italy on Thursday, marking a new all-time high, according to data from the country's civil protection agency.
Italy's previous single-day record of 969 new fatalities from the disease was set in late March, when the country was the epicenter of the pandemic in Europe.
The Italian civil protection agency also reported 23,225 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 31,772 patients currently hospitalized with the disease, including 3,597 in intensive care.
An Italian Army medical staff member, wearing personal protective equipment, works at a rapid COVID-19 testing area in Milan, Italy, on Nov. 13, 2020. The tent was set up to ease the pressure on hospital emergency wards in the area, following a surge of COVID-19 infections.
Luca Bruno/AP
Since the start of the pandemic, Italy has confirmed more than 1,664,829 million cases, including at least 58,038 deaths, according to the civil protection agency.
The country has the eighth highest case load in the world, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
ABC News' Phoebe Natanson contributed to this report.
Dec 04, 2020, 4:17 AM EST
US has worst day yet with record number of new cases and deaths
There were 217,664 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2,879 additional deaths from the disease registered in the United States on Thursday, both numbers which shattered the country's previous daily records, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
It's the most new cases and deaths the U.S. has recorded in a single day since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. It's also the 31st straight day that the country has reported over 100,000 newly diagnosed infections, and the third time since the pandemic began that the daily figure has topped 200,000, according to Johns Hopkins data.
A man swabs his mouth as people wait in line for their COVID-19 test at a mobile pop-up testing site in Los Angeles, California, on Dec. 3, 2020.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
COVID-19 data may be skewed in the coming days and weeks due to possible lags in reporting over Thanksgiving followed by a potentially very large backlog from the holiday.
A total of 14,143,801 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 276,366 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins data. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.
A health care professional suits up with personal protective equipment (PPE) before entering a COVID-19 patient's room in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Van Wert County Hospital in Van Wert, Ohio, on Nov. 20, 2020.
Megan Jelinger/AFP via Getty Images
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 over the summer.
The numbers lingered around 40,000 to 50,000 from mid-August through early October before surging again to record levels, crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4 and reaching 200,000 for the first time on Nov. 27.
Dec 03, 2020, 9:00 PM EST
US sees record new cases, hospitalizations
The U.S. saw record numbers of new COVID-19 cases and current hospitalizations on Thursday, according to The COVID-19 Tracking Project.
There were 210,161 new cases, and 100,667 people are currently hospitalized, it said.
The number of hospitalizations "makes clear exactly how severe the pandemic is," the project said in its weekly analysis.
That number has more than doubled in the past month as the West and Midwest recently set new records and the South approaches its mid-July peak.
Dec 03, 2020, 6:54 PM EST
LA County sees record number of new cases
Los Angeles County reported its highest number of new COVID-19 cases yet on Thursday, as the virus continues to surge in the region.
There were 7,854 new daily cases, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said, breaking a record set on Tuesday.
People line up for their COVID-19 test at a mobile pop-up test site in Los Angeles on Dec. 3, 2020.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
There were 44 new deaths and 2,572 current hospitalizations, officials said. The county is at 76% occupancy of overall intensive care unit capacity.
Under new restrictions in response to the surge, residents are urged to stay home as much as possible and not gather with people outside their household until Dec. 20.
-ABC News' Cammeron Parrish contributed to this report
