Coronavirus updates: Herd immunity by fall 'ambitious,' says surgeon general nominee

In 44 states, the seven-day average of new cases dropped over 10%.

ByMorgan Winsor, Erin Schumaker, and Emily Shapiro

Last Updated: January 25, 2021, 4:55 AM EST

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 98.7 million people worldwide and killed over 2.1 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Latest headlines:

Jan 24, 2021, 7:58 PM EST
Mexican president tests positive
Jan 24, 2021, 11:29 AM EST
Herd immunity by fall an ‘ambitious goal,’ says nominee for surgeon general
Jan 24, 2021, 9:51 AM EST
Over 20 million vaccine doses administered in US
Jan 23, 2021, 7:47 PM EST
Weekly average cases in US back to 'pre-Thanksgiving levels'

Here's how the news developed this week. All times Eastern.

Jan 22, 2021, 2:30 PM EST

California reports highest daily death toll

California reported its highest daily death toll since the start of the pandemic with another 764 lives lost.

The state reported 23,024 new cases on Friday.

A nurse works in a Covid-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at Martin Luther King Jr (MLK) Community Hospital in the Willowbrook neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Jan 22, 2021, 2:01 PM EST

Severe allergic reactions rare but possible with Moderna vaccine

A CDC report released Friday indicates that the risk of severe allergic reactions with Moderna's vaccine is low. Severe, life threatening allergic reactions were seen in 2.5 cases per million people receiving the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, the report said.

A vial with the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine is displayed at the corona vaccination centre at the University hospital in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, Jan. 22, 2021.
Ronny Hartmann/AFP via Getty Images

Of the 4,041,396 first doses given as of Jan. 10, there were 1,266 (0.03%) reports of "adverse events," the report said. Among those, 108 "adverse events" were considered as possible cases of severe allergic reaction, including anaphylaxis. Ten cases were determined to be anaphylaxis (a rate of 2.5 anaphylaxis cases per 1 million doses) including nine people with a documented history of allergies or allergic reactions, the report said.

ABC News’ Sony Salzman contributed to this report.

Jan 22, 2021, 1:43 PM EST

UK variant may be associated with higher mortality, Boris Johnson says

More people are testing positive for the United Kingdom’s variant of the coronavirus, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday “there is some evidence that the new variant may be associated with a higher degree of mortality.”

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a virtual press conference on the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, at 10 Downing Street in central London on Jan. 22, 2021.
Leon Neal/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

U.K. Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty stressed that the data is uncertain and there is a chance the new variant is increasing infections and mortality.

Ambulance crew member wheels a stretcher outside the emergency department at the the Royal London Hospital, Jan. 22, 2021.
Wiktor Szymanowicz/Shutterstock

The U.K. has seen record daily death tolls several times this week.

There were 1,401 deaths in the last 24 hours.

ABC News’ Kirit Radia, Sony Salzman and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.

Jan 22, 2021, 1:00 PM EST

New York running out of vaccines today but more on the way: Cuomo

New York state has used 97% of its allocated vaccine doses so far (for weeks 1 through 5) and will run out of doses by the end of the day, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday.

Week 6 doses are currently being delivered, the governor said.