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.

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 05, 2020, 6:45 PM EST

ICU capacity triggers new stay-at-home orders in Southern California, San Joaquin Valley

Two California regions will have to enact new stay-at-home orders because their intensive care unit capacities have dipped below 15%.

ICU capacity is at 8.6% in San Joaquin Valley and 12.5% in Southern California, the state health department reported on Saturday.

Hair salons, barbershops, museums, bars, playgrounds and more must close based on a new regional stay-at-home order introduced this week. Residents are also instructed to stay home as much as possible.

People swab their cheeks at a COVID-19 testing site in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020.
Richard Vogel/AP

The order, which goes into effect at midnight Sunday and will last for at least three weeks, impacts 23 counties between the two regions.

The new policy comes as cases continue to surge in California. The state saw a record 25,068 new COVID-19 cases on Friday. There were 209 new deaths, which is approaching an August peak.

 Los Angeles County, a particularly hard-hit region, reported a record 8,949 cases on Saturday.

-ABC News' Matt Fuhrman contributed to this report

Dec 05, 2020, 4:36 PM EST

Cases, deaths up following Thanksgiving slowdown, HHS memo shows

The number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths are increasing again, following a Thanksgiving data slowdown, an internal Health and Human Services memo obtained by ABC News shows. 

From Nov. 28 to Dec. 4, new cases increased 3.2% and deaths went up 16% compared with the previous week, the memo said.

The national test-positivity rate rose to 12.1% from 10% in week-to-week comparisons.

Across the country, 30% of hospitals have more than 80% of their intensive care unit beds filled, and 29% of ventilators in use are occupied by COVID-19 patients, a slight increase.

In Arizona, ICU bed use increased 458% from Sept. 29 to Dec. 2, according to HHS. As of Dec. 2, California had 1,810 ICU beds available, the lowest capacity during the pandemic. Hospitals in the southwest and southeast regions of Colorado had reached ICU capacity as of Dec. 3, the memo said.

-ABC News' Josh Margolin

Dec 05, 2020, 2:55 PM EST

New Mexico may move to rationing care depending on patients' likelihood of survival

Hospitals in New Mexico may soon move to "crisis standards of care," meaning doctors would ration services based on a patient's likelihood of surviving.

The declaration was likely to come Monday, Gov. Michelle Lynn Lujan Grisham said in an interview with the Washington Post., with each hospital making its own decision about whether to move to the crisis plan.

Michelle Lujan Grisham, governor of New Mexico, speaks during the virtual Democratic National Convention, Aug. 19, 2020.
Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE

As of Saturday, New Mexico had reported 104,935 infections and 1,706 deaths from the virus, according to the state health department.

Dec 05, 2020, 2:54 PM EST

US death toll passes 280K

The United States death toll from the coronavirus surpassed 280,000 Saturday afternoon.

At least 280,090 Americans have died from COVID-19, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. surpassed 270,000 deaths on Tuesday.

The seven-day average for daily deaths is 1,949, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted this week that the U.S. death toll from the virus could reach 329,000 by Dec. 26.

-ABC News' Ahmad Hemingway

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