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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.

ByMorgan Winsor, Erin Schumaker, Ivan Pereira, Emily Shapiro, and Julia Jacobo
Last Updated: February 5, 2021, 4:57 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 04, 2021, 3:04 PM EST

US sees cases drop 44%, vaccines rise 13.5%: HHS

The number of COVID-19 vaccine doses delivered across the United States over the past week dropped 22.5%, but the amount of doses administered increased 13.5%, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Tommy Stevenson, 65, adjusts his mask as the waits with other people in line to receive a COVID-19 vaccination at Methodist Hospital in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, Texas, Feb. 4, 2021.
Lm Otero/AP

The country has also seen a three-week downward trend in new COVID-19 cases, resulting in a 44% decline in the seven-day daily average since the peak on Jan. 8, the report said.

PHOTO: A soldier pulls a cart full of medical equipment and syringes loaded with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to be given to people in their cars at a vaccination center in Londonderry, New Hampshire on Feb. 4, 2021.
A soldier pulls a cart full of medical equipment and syringes loaded with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to be given to people in their cars at a vaccination center in Londonderry, New Hampshire on Feb. 4, 2021. The drive-through center is run by the New Hampshire National Guard and vaccinations are performed by airman, soldiers and local first responders
Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

Still, the current number of daily cases remains over twice as high as the numbers during prior peaks.

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

Feb 04, 2021, 12:02 PM EST

COVID-19 hospitalizations at lowest point in US since Thanksgiving

There are currently 91,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States -- the lowest since Nov. 28, which was two days after Thanksgiving, according to an ABC News analysis of data compiled by The COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer-run effort to track the U.S. outbreak.

COVID-19 hospitalizations have declined across the country by nearly 30% over the last three weeks.

In the span of three weeks, the national seven-day average of daily COVID-19 cases has declined by 45.6% -- the steepest and most consistent non-holiday-related drop in cases the U.S. has seen since the summer.

PHOTO: A notice inviting patrons to social distance is seen in the outdoor seating area of The Abbey Food & Bar on Jan. 29, 2021, in West Hollywood, Calif.
A notice inviting patrons to social distance is seen in the outdoor seating area of The Abbey Food & Bar on Jan. 29, 2021, in West Hollywood, Calif. California lifted the statewide "stay at home" ban, paving the way for the return of activities such as outdoor dining with a reopening permit, in line with new strict regulations aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.

Feb 04, 2021, 10:56 AM EST

COVID-19 fatality rate in Africa is now higher than global average

The director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that the COVID-19 fatality rate on the 54-nation continent "is becoming very troubling," as it climbs higher than the global average.

John Nkengasong told reporters during a press conference that the death rate from COVID-19 in Africa, the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, is now 2.6% while the global rate is 2.2%.

A health worker is seen before tending to patients inside a COVID-19 ward that houses suspected cases in Pikine Hospital in Dakar, Senegal, on April 23, 2020.
John Wessels/AFP via Getty Images

Nkengasong said 20 African nations, including South Africa and Sudan, have COVID-19 fatality rates higher than the global average as the continent grapples with new, more contagious variants of the virus. More than 3.5 million people across Africa have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic and nearly 89,000 of them have died, according to the latest data from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The African Union regional bloc has secured 670 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from various manufacturers. In addition, Africa is expecting around 600 million doses from the vaccine-sharing facility COVAX, which aims to start shipping nearly 90 million doses to the continent in February.

Feb 04, 2021, 9:59 AM EST

Doses secured to vaccinate all US Capitol Police personnel

Enough COVID-19 vaccine doses have been secured to inoculate all U.S. Capitol Police personnel, according to Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman, who credited "efforts of the Congressional Leadership, especially House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Administration."

US Capitol Police officers salute as the remains of Officer Brian Sicknick are carried down the steps of the Capitol after laying in honor in the Rotunda in Washington, D.C., Feb. 3, 2021.
Drew Angerer/POOL/EPA via Shutterstock

The federal police force has been hit hard by COVID-19 infections since the Jan. 6 siege at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C..

"The Department expects delivery of the vaccines to occur shortly, and is already working with the Office of Attending Physician on logistics to administer them to our employees as quickly and safely as possible," Pittman said in a statement Thursday.

ABC News’ Jack Date contributed to this report.

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