Coronavirus updates: US reports nearly 300,000 new cases in all-time high

New York State Police will refer ParCare Community Health Network to the New York Attorney General’s office for allegedly misappropriating the Moderna vaccine, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said the Orange County-based health care provider obtained the vaccine under false pretenses, moved it to Brooklyn, and gave it to people who weren't on the priority list. While ParCare is the only organization currently under criminal investigation, the governor said recipients of the vaccine who violated the state's distribution plan could also face charges.

"Whenever you have a valuable commodity that is being dispensed you should expect fraud," Cuomo said.

Under New York's current plan for "1A" distribution, only medical workers, first responders and nursing home staff members are allowed to receive the coronavirus vaccine. Other groups will follow in future rounds.

"We take this very seriously," Zucker said in a statement last week. "Anyone found to have knowingly participated in this scheme will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."

New York State Police and other investigators were at the ParCare location in Borough Park on Saturday night.

A spokesman for ParCare told ABC News Sunday evening that it is cooperating with the state investigation and will return its unused vials. ParCare received 2,300 doses of the Moderna vaccine, and 869 of those doses have already been administered, according to the spokesperson.

"ParCare followed all NYS DOH procedures for obtaining the Moderna vaccine and was approved by NYS DOH for distribution and by CDC as a network site. As a result, we have properly received the vaccines and have provided the documentation regarding the proper receipt of the vaccines to the NYS DOH," the spokesperson told ABC News.

With regards to the patients who received their first shot, ParCare said it will be "working with the state to ensure that we provide the second dose for our patients."

-ABC News' Ivan Pereira, Sasha Pezenik and Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

British health authorities reported 41,385 new COVID-19 cases Monday, the highest daily rise since the pandemic began. Over the last seven days, 256,220 people tested positive, which is a 25.7% increase in positive tests since the week prior.

England's Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance said last week that the newly identified U.K. variant is more dominant and significantly more transmissible than the old coronavirus variant.

There’s no evidence the new variants are more deadly and it’s highly likely the vaccine will still work, experts said at a virtual Q&A hosted by the World Health Organization last week.

In total, the U.K. has reported 2,329,730 infections and 71,109 deaths from the virus.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

One out of 17 Americans, a total of 19 million people, have tested positive for coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. One in 1,000 have died from the virus.

Since some states don't report and others give incomplete updates over the holidays, last week's data doesn't provide an up-to-date picture of the U.S. outbreak. But even without those numbers, December's forecast remains grim, according to an ABC News analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project.

Since Dec. 1, there has not been a single day with less than 1,000 COVID-19 related deaths reported, the data showed.

The United States logged more than 5.4 million COVID-19 cases in December, more than any month on record and roughly equivalent to 70 Americans testing positive for the virus every 30 seconds.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.

New Jersey vaccinated its first nursing home resident, a 103-year-old resident of Roosevelt Care Center in Old Bridge Monday.

Mildred Clements, a Newark native who has lived through two pandemics, was met by a round of applause from the governor and state health commissioner after receiving her shot. Residents and staff at roughly 90 long-term care facilities in New Jersey are slated to start vaccinations Monday, according to the governor's office.

-ABC News' Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.