Coronavirus updates: US will soon have 'half a million' deaths, CDC says

The U.S. is forecast to have almost 500,000 COVID-19 deaths by mid-February.

ByMorgan Winsor, Erin Schumaker, Emily Shapiro, and Julia Jacobo
Last Updated: January 18, 2021, 7:55 AM EST

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 94.2 million people worldwide and killed over 2 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

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Here's how the news developed this week. All times Eastern.
Jan 11, 2021, 4:30 AM EST

Russia detects 1st cases of UK variant

A new, more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus that was first detected in the United Kingdom has now been discovered in Russia.

The strain, called B117, was confirmed among four Russian citizens who had tested positive for COVID-19 upon returning from the U.K., Russia's chief sanitary doctor, Anna Popova, told reporters Sunday evening.

After being identified in Kent in September, B117 has become prevalent in London and other parts of southeast England.

Last month, Russia joined the growing list of countries to suspend flights from the U.K. amid rising COVID-19 infections and concerns about the highly infectious variant there.

People, with just some wearing face masks to protect against the novel coronavirus, walk on a bridge in Zaryadye Park, with the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral in the background decorated for the holidays, in Moscow, Russia, on Jan. 4, 2021.
Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

With more than 3.3 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, Russia has the fourth-highest tally of diagnosed infections in the world, followed by the U.K., according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Russia confirmed 23,315 new cases and 436 additional deaths from the disease on Sunday, according to the country's coronavirus headquarters.

ABC News' Alina Lobzina and Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.

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