COVID updates: Team USA figure skater Vincent Zhou tests positive at Olympics

He is undergoing additional testing to see if he can compete.

ByMorgan Winsor, Emily Shapiro, Nadine El-Bawab, and Ivan Pereira
Last Updated: February 6, 2022, 11:48 PM EST

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.7 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 902,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 64% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Feb 01, 2022, 5:02 PM EST

Pfizer asks for FDA authorization for vaccine for kids under 5

The FDA's advisory committee will meet on Feb. 15 to review the Pfizer vaccine for use in children under the age of 5. The advisory committee is an independent group whose vote is nonbinding, but the FDA takes it into consideration when making a final decision.

The vaccine would still need to go through several other approvals before it can be used on children under the age of 5. It would need to be authorized by the FDA, then the CDC advisory committee would need to meet for recommendations and it would need to be approved by the CDC.

Pfizer and BioNTech said Tuesday they have initiated rolling submission for emergency use authorization for kids 6 months through 4 years old -- at the request of the FDA. Pfizer and BioNTech said they're submitted data for two doses but expect the vaccine to be a three-dose series, and that the data for the third dose will be provided in the coming months.

Feb 01, 2022, 3:57 PM EST

White House: Government has shipped 100 million free N95 masks

The federal government has shipped 100 million free N95 masks so far, according to the White House, after the Biden administration announced on Jan. 19 that it would provide 400 million free N95 masks to Americans.

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson

Feb 01, 2022, 3:24 PM EST

Unvaccinated 23 times more likely to be hospitalized with omicron than those vaccinated, boosted

A new study from Los Angeles County's health department estimates that during the city's omicron surge, people who were unvaccinated were 3.6 times more likely to get COVID-19 and 23 times more likely to be hospitalized compared to people who were vaccinated and boosted.

A woman receives a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at a L.A. Care Health Plan vaccination, in Los Angeles, Jan. 19, 2022.
Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

The unvaccinated were 2 times more likely to get COVID-19 and 5.3 times more likely to be hospitalized compared to people who were vaccinated but not yet boosted, according to the study, which was published in the CDC's weekly journal, MMWR. 

-ABC News' Sony Salzman

Feb 01, 2022, 2:55 PM EST

US daily case rate drops below 500,000 for 1st time in weeks

The U.S. daily case rate has dropped below 500,000 for the first time in nearly one month, falling by 37.4% in the last two weeks to an average of 497,000 cases per day, according to federal data.

However, experts continue to caution that case levels remain much higher than previous surges, with the U.S. still reporting millions of new cases every week.

A healthcare worker administers a Covid-19 test at a drive-thru Covid-19 testing site located in Guirado Park in Whittier, Calif., Jan. 25, 2022.
Caroline Brehman/EPA via Shutterstock

Alaska now leads the nation in new cases per capita followed by Kentucky, Washington, Oklahoma, Minnesota, California and North Dakota.

The number of COVID-19-positive Americans requiring hospitalization continues to steadily fall, with now under 129,000 virus-positive Americans currently receiving care -- down by about 31,000 patients from 12 days ago, according to federal data.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Related Topics