Live

COVID-19 updates: US has 1st day since November with fewer than 100K new cases

The U.S. reported just over 96,000 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday.

Last Updated: February 3, 2021, 7:28 AM EST

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 105 million people worldwide and killed over 2.3 million of them, 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.
Feb 02, 2021, 2:28 PM EST

7.8% of US population has had at least 1 vaccine shot

Twenty-six million people in the United States -- which is 7.8% of the country's population -- have received one or more doses of COVID-19 vaccines, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

People wait in line in a Disneyland parking lot to receive Covid-19 vaccines on the opening day of the Disneyland Covid-19 vaccination "super Point-of-Dispensing" (POD) site, in Anaheim, Calif.
Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images, FILE

COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions are continuing to decline nationally, while adult intensive care unit occupancy rates and deaths remain high in several states.

The country's seven-day average for new COVID-19 hospital admissions has dropped from a peak of 16,485 on Jan. 9 to 11,369 -- a 31% decline, the report said.

Patients rest in a hallway in the overloaded Emergency Room area at Providence St. Mary Medical Center on Jan. 27, 2021 in Apple Valley, Calif.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

California, Texas, Georgia, Alabama and Oklahoma are the only states where ICU occupancies are above 85%, the report said.

ABC News’ Brian Hartman and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.

Feb 02, 2021, 1:21 PM EST

Fauci says next 6 weeks will be 'full-court press' on virus variants

Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, said new, more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus are the top concern in the country right now and that the next six weeks will be critical.

"We're going to be doing … a full-court press on non-pharmacologic interventions [like masks] as well as getting as much vaccine out as we possibly can," Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said at the International Aids Society conference on Tuesday.

In this Jan. 21, 2021, photo, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C.
Alex Brandon/AP, FILE

"It's a very stressful situation ... when you have that much virus circulating, you're going to get a lot of mutations, no doubt about it," he added. "It's almost a race of trying to suppress the level of replication before we get so many accumulation of both the South African and other mutants as well as mutants of our own."

ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.

Feb 02, 2021, 12:13 PM EST

Maryland confirms 2 more cases of South Africa variant

Maryland has identified two more confirmed cases of the new, more contagious B1351 variant of the novel coronavirus, which was first detected in South Africa, Gov. Larry Hogan said Tuesday.

The two patients are Montgomery County residents who recently traveled abroad, according to Hogan.

"Contact tracing is underway, and close contacts are isolating," the governor wrote on Twitter.

Maryland’s first case of the South Africa variant, in the Baltimore region, was announced on Saturday.

"The B.1.351 variant has not been shown to cause more severe illness or increased risk of death, though it is believed to be more transmissible," Hogan tweeted. "Initial evidence suggests that vaccines are still likely to be protective against the variant."

Feb 02, 2021, 11:55 AM EST

Capt. Sir Tom Moore dies after contracting COVID-19

Capt. Sir Thomas Moore, the 100-year-old British World War II veteran who garnered global attention for his fundraising efforts amid the pandemic, has died after contracting COVID-19.

His death was announced Tuesday on social media accounts run by his family.

Moore was being treated for pneumonia over the past few weeks. After testing positive for COVID-19 last week, the centenarian was hospitalized on Sunday because "he needed additional help with his breathing," his daughter said in a statement posted on Twitter.

Last spring, Moore raised over 37 million pounds ($50.7 million) for the United Kingdom's National Health Service by walking laps in his garden in England amid a nationwide lockdown. Queen Elizabeth II honored Moore's charity and service to the country with a promotion to honorary colonel, a social flyover and knighthood.

Queen Elizabeth II awards Captain Sir Thomas Moore with the insignia of Knight Bachelor at Windsor Castle on July 17, 2020 in Windsor, England.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images, FILE

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told ABC News the queen "is sending a private message of condolence" to Moore's family and that she "very much enjoyed" meeting them last year.

"Her thoughts, and those of the Royal Family, are with them, recognising the inspiration he provided for the whole nation and others across the world," the spokesperson said.

ABC News' Zoe Magee contributed to this report.

Related Topics