New York health provider may have fraudulently obtained COVID-19 vaccine
The vaccine was then given to members of the public not yet eligible.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 80.2 million people worldwide and killed over 1.7 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
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LA County surpasses 9,000 deaths
Los Angeles County's Health Department reported that it has surpassed 9,000 coronavirus related deaths Tuesday.
The county recorded more than 1,000 deaths since Dec. 8, which is an average of nearly 73 COVID-19 deaths per day over the past two weeks, the Health Department said.
There are 5,866 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized in Los Angeles, a record high, the Health Department said. About 20% of these patients are in the ICU, the Health Department said.
US COVID hospital patients reach spring peak: HHS
About 24% of inpatients in U.S. hospitals have the coronavirus, matching the peak set in April, according to an internal memo from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that was obtained by ABC News.
About 29% of hospitals across the country have more than 80% of their ICU beds filled, according to the memo.
HHS said 34% of ventilators in use are occupied by COVID-19 patients. The peak in April was 45%, according to the agency.
The memo also reported increasing trends with cases and deaths across the country between Dec. 16 and Dec. 22.
During that seven-day period, 1,656,411 new cases were confirmed, according to HHS. This was a 10.8% increase from the previous seven-day period.
There were 18,537 deaths recorded between Dec. 16 and Dec. 22, which was a 7.5% jump from the same period last week.
-ABC News' Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
AstraZeneca says its vaccine should be effective against new coronavirus variant
British drugmaker AstraZeneca told Reuters that its vaccine should be effective against the new COVID-19 variant linked to cases in the United Kingdom.
AstraZeneca said studies are underway to fully probe the impact of the mutation.
ABC News’ Sohel Uddin contributed to this report.
Supreme Court justices have vaccine access
Vaccines are being made available to all Supreme Court Justices, spokeswoman Kathy Arberg told ABC News.
Arberg did not say whether any justices have received the vaccine, citing health privacy laws.
The oldest justices are Stephen Breyer, 82, and Clarence Thomas, 72.
The National Security Council in recent days moved to extend vaccine access to top government officials to preserve continuity of government.
ABC News’ Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.
Surge affecting states with 80% of the population: White House Coronavirus Task Force
The White House Coronavirus Task Force urged state leaders to step up their messaging when it comes to health warnings as the number of cases continues to rise across the country, according to a report for governors that was obtained by ABC News.
The rise in cases is now in states home to more than 80% of the American population, according to the report.
"Preventing a post-Christmas/Kwanzaa surge is critical through clear and continuous messaging: 'To preserve our hospital system for you, we need you to wear masks, physically distance, wash hands, and avoid crowds and social gatherings beyond your immediate family,'" the report said.
The task force reported that the current surge is currently plateauing at 10 times the daily cases of the spring surge and three and a half times the daily cases of the summer surge.
The number of COVID-19 inpatients is three times the number of spring inpatients and more than double the summer surge, according to the report.
Weekly fatalities are greater than the spring surge and two and a half times greater than the summer surge, according to the task force.
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.