Coronavirus updates: US reports nearly 300,000 new cases in all-time high
A staggering 299,087 new cases were confirmed over the past 24 hours.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 84.6 million people worldwide and killed over 1.8 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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787,000 unemployment claims filed in last week
There were 787,000 new unemployment claims filed in one week, according to the Labor Department. This number is slightly lower than last week's, but still higher than anything seen before the pandemic.
There are currently 19,563,905 total claims being filed for unemployment through different government programs.
ABC News’ Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.
US sees record high death toll for 2nd day in a row
The U.S. has seen a record high daily death toll for the second day in a row, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
There were 3,744 COVID-19 deaths reported Wednesday, the highest since start of the pandemic, surpassing the previous record of 3,725 deaths reported Tuesday.
Surgeon general responds to vaccinations falling short of administration’s goal
In the wake of the Trump administration falling short on its vaccination goal, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams told "Good Morning America" Thursday, “We always knew that this was going to take a while to ramp up."
"The curve is rapidly increasing, in terms of number of people being vaccinated," Adams said. "So we shouldn't extrapolate from what happened yesterday to what's going to happen six months from now. What we should do is make sure that curve continues to go up and continue to support our state and public health departments, which is what we are doing."
The Trump administration had promised that 20 million people would be vaccinated by the end of the year.
As of Wednesday morning, 2,794,588 Americans had received vaccine doses and 12.4 million doses had been distributed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"There's vaccines manufactured. There's vaccines allocated. There’s vaccines delivered. And then there's vaccines put in arms,” Adams said. “From a federal perspective, we are on track to have 20 million people able to be vaccinated, doses on the ground, by the end of next week.”
Adams also urged Americans to celebrate New Year's Eve virtually.
“This has been a marathon, but we don't want to trip at the finish line,” Adams said. “We want to have a normal New Year’s next year, we want as many of our loved ones and family and friends as possible to be able to enjoy that New Year’s in 2021. The way we do that is by pulling together and sacrificing one more time so that we can ramp up these vaccinations and put this virus away for good.”
ABC News’ Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.
US breaks record with over 3,900 new deaths
The U.S. reported 3,903 deaths on Wednesday, a new record for daily fatalities, according to The COVID Tracking Project.
Hospitalizations also reached a record high with 125,220 and there were 225,671 new cases, according to the tracking project.
"Holiday reporting delays are still markedly affecting testing, case, and deaths figures," the group tweeted.
The COVID Tacking Project said the death count included a backlog of 200 fatalities from Washington state.
"Even without this backlog, today's total would still be the highest to date," the tracking project tweeted.
It warned that more data disruptions are expected with the New Year's Day weekend.
CDC issues new guidance on vaccinations for people with underlying health conditions
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines for people with underlying health conditions planning to take a COVID-19 vaccine.
They CDC said that adults with underlying medical conditions -- who are more at risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19 -- can receive a vaccine against the virus as long as they have not had a severe allergic reaction to any of the ingredients in it.
The new guidelines state that people with HIV and those with weakened immune systems due to other illnesses or medication should be aware that information about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines for their group is not yet available. While people with HIV were included in clinical trials, more data is required to provide safety guidelines regarding the effects a vaccine could have on them. The same is true for people with autoimmune conditions.
People who have previously had Guillain-Barre syndrome or Bell’s palsy may receive a COVID-19 vaccine, though experts are still acquiring more data about their groups as well.
The CDC added that people should continue to follow coronavirus health measures -- such as wearing a mask and staying 6 feet away from others -- after receiving the shot, as experts have more to learn about the protection that COVID-19 vaccines provide under real-life conditions.