COVID updates: Hawaii is only state to not announce plans to lift mask mandates

South Carolina health officials announced Friday that the state will start phasing out public COVID-19 testing options due to the increased availability of at-home tests.

Beginning March 1, publicly operated vendor testing sites will begin closing and publicly operated PCR sites will start shutting down in April.

"A prime driver of these changes is that with increased availability of rapid antigen testing, it is now the most effective testing tool to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and help people make informed decisions about whether to isolate," officials from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said in a press release.

"DHEC will continue to follow the science and update our guidelines and response to COVID-19 as conditions change," the release said.

Additionally, the state will no longer report daily COVID-19 case counts because at-home test results are rarely reported to health officials.

Instead, case totals will be reported weekly, although data on hospitalizations and deaths will continue to be reported every day.

-ABC News' Janice McDonald and Arielle Mitropoulos

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy announced Friday he has tested positive for COVID-19 after his young daughter first came down with the virus last week.

In a Twitter thread, Murthy revealed that his wife and 5-year-old son have also tested positive, but only have mild symptoms so far.

Murthy said he and his wife found it difficult to isolate from their 4-year-old daughter while she's been sick because they wanted to comfort her, but added he is relieved the rest of his family was vaccinated and boosted, which will reduce their risk of severe illness.

"When you’ve been as safe as you can, getting COVID-19 can be frustrating and disappointing. I’ve felt that. It can also be a source of shame. Many people assume you must have been careless to get sick. Our safety measures reduce risk but they can’t eliminate risk. Nothing can," Murthy tweeted.

He continued, "One major source of peace of mind for us: we and our son are vaxed/boosted. Vaccines are very effective at saving our lives and keeping us out of the hospital. As parents, I can’t tell you how reassuring it is to know we’ll be able to care for our kids even if we get infected."

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett

The daily average of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has fallen to its lowest point in nearly two months.

Currently, the country is recording an average of 121,000 new infections every day, down sixfold since January.

Over the last seven days, the U.S. has reported 851,000 new COVID-19 cases compared to more than 5.5 million cases reported in one week during last month's peak.

Experts, however, warn Americans not to declare victory just yet; nearly 96% of U.S. counties are still reporting high transmission, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Additionally, hospitalizations are also declining across the nation with just under 69,000 COVID patients receiving care in hospitals, down by nearly 57% from the 160,000 patients reported four weeks ago. 

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

The World Health Organization announced Friday that Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia will be the first six countries to receive COVID-19 mRNA vaccine technology from a transfer hub.

The hub was established in 2021 to help low-and middle-income countries produce COVID vaccines vaccines for their citizens.

Recently, the hub’s research and development partner, South Africa’s Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, produced small batches of COVID mRNA vaccines from publicly available data from Moderna, despite little to no help from the company.

"No other event like the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that reliance on a few companies to supply global public goods is limiting and dangerous," said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the European Union - African Union summit. "In the mid- to long-term, the best way to address health emergencies and reach universal health coverage is to significantly increase the capacity of all regions to manufacture the health products they need, with equitable access as their primary endpoint.”