A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 90 million people worldwide and killed over 1.9 million of them, 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.
Jan 07, 2021, 9:16 AM EST
1 in every 4 or 5 people testing positive in LA
Los Angeles County reported 258 new deaths and 11,841 new cases on Wednesday.
County Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said Wednesday, “Today, I am more troubled than ever before.”
EMS workers wave as they are waiting to bring in a patient inside the Emergency Room entrance after she was brought in by an ambulance at the LAC USC Hospital amid the coronavirus pandemic in Los Angeles, Jan. 5, 2021.
Etienne Laurent/EPA via Shutterstock
During the summer, 1 in every 10 people tested were positive; now, 1 in every 4 or 5 people are testing positive, she said.
The rate of transmission this month is almost double that of December and Los Angeles County hospitals are admitting more patients than they can discharge, she said.
Javier De La Cruz, left, and Tim Shelton load a COVID-19 positive patient into the back of their unit outside at a convalescent home in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles on Dec. 9, 2020.
Gabriella Angotti-Jones/The New York Times via Redux
Some paramedics told ABC News they’ve seen as many as 22 ambulances stacked up in hospital parking lots this week. They said they felt helpless waiting.
“They signed up to take care of people, not wait with people in agony,” EMT Bill Weston told ABC News.
“This is by far the worst disaster I've ever been involved in,” he said.
ABC News' Jenna Harrison, Kaylee Hartung and Cammeron Parrish contributed to this report.
Jan 07, 2021, 8:43 AM EST
787,000 workers filed for unemployment insurance last week
About 787,000 workers lost their jobs and filed for unemployment insurance last week, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.
This is a decrease of 3,000 compared to last week’s figure -- but the weekly tally still remains highly elevated by historical standards.
A banner against renters eviction reading is displayed on a controlled-rent building in Washington, D.C., Aug. 9, 2020.
Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
The DOL also said that more than 19 million people were still receiving some form of government unemployment benefits as of the week ending Dec. 19. For the comparable week in 2019, that figure was 1.8 million.
The latest data shows the ongoing pain to the labor market brought on by the pandemic-induced recession. It also comes some nine months since the virus arrived in the U.S., but as cases and hospitalizations continue to reach record highs across the country.
Thursday’s initial unemployment claims data also comes a day ahead of Friday’s highly anticipated job’s report from the DOL, which is set to provide more details on the economy and the road towards a recovery.
ABC News’ Catherine Thorbecke contributed to this report.
Jan 07, 2021, 5:58 AM EST
Japan declares state of emergency in greater Tokyo area
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures on Thursday, amid soaring COVID-19 infections and a growing death toll.
A state of emergency declaration gives the governors of those respective regions the authority to ask residents for cooperation in efforts to curb the spread of the virus. There are currently no legal ramifications for non-compliance.
"This global infection has surpassed our imagination and it has turned into a harsh struggle," Suga said Thursday evening in televised remarks. "However, I believe that we can overcome the situation. In order to do so, once again, we ask people to have a limited lifestyle."
Under the state of emergency, which takes immediate effect and will last for one month, Suga said governors will ask residents to refrain from dining out and to stay home after 8 p.m. unless for essential reasons. They will also ask companies to decrease the number of employees commuting to work by 70%.
A giant television screen in Tokyo shows Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga during a live broadcast of a press conference on a state of emergency declared for the greater Tokyo area amid the coronavirus pandemic on Jan. 7, 2021.
Philip Fong/AFP via Getty Images
Suga said bars and restaurants will be asked to stop serving alcohol by 7 p.m. and to close by 8 p.m. Governors may disclose the name of the businesses that don't comply, while those that do will be given 1.8 million Japanese yen ($17,000) per month.
Spectator events will be limited to an audience of 5,000 people. Schools will not be asked to close, according to Suga.
"If we do that, I believe we can overcome the COVID crisis," he said.
Suga's predecessor, Shinzo Abe, declared a nationwide state of emergency relatively early in the pandemic in April, which lasted for a month. At that time, residents were asked to reduce person-to-person contact by 80% and to practice "jishuku," or "self-restraint," by staying at home and closing non-essential businesses.
The move comes after days of record-high numbers of newly confirmed COVID-19 infections. The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare confirmed 5,946 new cases on Wednesday, bringing the country's cumulative total to 257,196 confirmed cases with at least 3,790 deaths.
ABC News' Anthony Trotter contributed to this report.
Jan 07, 2021, 4:39 AM EST
US sees record number of COVID-19 deaths for 2nd straight day
There were a record 3,865 new deaths from COVID-19 registered in the United States on Wednesday, marking the deadliest day since the start of the pandemic, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
It's the second straight day that the country has logged a record number of fatalities from the disease within a 24-hour reporting period. Wednesday's count tops the previous day's peak of 3,775 deaths, Johns Hopkins data shows.
Meanwhile, 253,145 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed nationwide on Wednesday, marking the second consecutive day that the country has reported more than 200,000 newly confirmed infections. Wednesday's tally is less than the all-time high of 297,491 new cases, which the country logged the previous day, according to Johns Hopkins data.
COVID-19 data may be skewed due to possible lags in reporting over the holidays followed by a potentially very large backlog.
Maryland Cremation Services transporter Reggie Elliott brings the remains of a COVID-19 victim to his van from the hospital's morgue in Baltimore, Maryland, on Dec. 24, 2020.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
A total of 21,305,026 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 361,279 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.
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.
