COVID-19 updates: US sees 1st day since early November with fewer than 100,000 new cases

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

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.


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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.

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.


New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang tests positive for COVID-19

Andrew Yang, who ran for president of the United States in 2020 and is currently running to be mayor of New York City, has tested positive for COVID-19.

"After testing negative as recently as this weekend, today I took a COVID rapid test and received a positive result," Yang said in a statement through his campaign Tuesday.

Yang said he has mild symptoms and that, as he self-quarantines at home, he'll "continue to attend as many virtual events as possible."

"Our team has begun the contact tracing process to notify anyone who may have been in close contact with me," he added.


Real Madrid president tests positive

Spanish professional soccer club Real Madrid announced Tuesday that its president has tested positive for COVID-19.

Florentino Perez, 73, returned a positive result during the Madrid-based club's routine testing. He is not showing any symptoms, the club said in a brief statement.

No additional details were provided by the club.


Peer-reviewed study finds Russia's vaccine is over 91% effective

Results from a late-stage clinical trial of Russia's flagship coronavirus vaccine show the shot is not only safe but also 91.6% effective against symptomatic COVID-19, according to a study published Tuesday by the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet.

The randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled Phase 3 trial in Moscow involved 19,866 adult participants, of whom 14,964 received the vaccine, called Sputnik V, and 4,902 received a placebo. The two-dose vaccine was administered 21 days apart.

There were 62 confirmed cases of COVID-19 identified among the trial participants in the placebo group and 16 cases in the vaccine group, according to the study.

The study said there were no serious adverse effects related to the vaccine recorded during the trial and that 94% were mild, including flu-like symptoms, pain at the injection site and headaches.

A sub-analysis of 2,144 trial participants older than 60 showed the vaccine had a similar efficacy of 91.8%, according to the study.

"Our interim analysis of this phase 3 trial of Gam-COVID-Vac has shown promising results," the researchers wrote.

The publication of peer-reviewed data follows last year's criticism of Russia for registering the COVID-19 vaccine -- and declaring itself the first country in the world to do so -- before starting crucial Phase 3 trials.

"The development of the Sputnik V vaccine has been criticised for unseemly haste, corner cutting, and an absence of transparency," Ian Jones, a professor of virology at England's University of Reading, wrote in a comment piece published Tuesday by The Lancet alongside the study. "But the outcome reported here is clear and the scientific principle of vaccination is demonstrated, which means another vaccine can now join the fight to reduce the incidence of COVID-19."

Russia’s Direct Investment Fund (RDF), which funded the production of Sputnik V and is responsible for its worldwide marketing, hailed the study and noted that the COVID-19 vaccine is currently one of only three in the world with an efficacy above 90%. The vaccine, which is now registered in 16 countries, costs $10 per dose and can be stored and transported more easily because it can be kept at the temperature of a standard refrigerator, according to RDF.

"The data published by The Lancet proves that not only Sputnik V is the world’s first registered vaccine, but also one of the best," Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of RDF, said in a statement Tuesday.

ABC News' Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.


Cases of UK variant could be doubling every 10 days in the US, study finds

Cases of the more contagious U.K. variant of the COVID-19 virus is spreading rapidly through the U.S., as much as doubling every 10 days, a new study suggests.

The study has not peer reviewed, so it has not been scrutinized for inaccuracies or context by specialists.

It is still not known whether the U.K. variant is more virulent or deadly, but it is more transmissible. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned last month that the U.K. variant could become predominant in the U.S. by March if spread the way it did in the U.K.

Vaccines don’t seem to be strongly impacted by the U.K. variant, but scientists are concerned about the efficacy of the vaccines against the South African variant.

-ABC News’ Eric Strauss