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.
Latest headlines:
US sees cases drop 44%, vaccines rise 13.5%: HHS
The number of COVID-19 vaccine doses delivered across the United States over the past week dropped 22.5%, but the amount of doses administered increased 13.5%, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The country has also seen a three-week downward trend in new COVID-19 cases, resulting in a 44% decline in the seven-day daily average since the peak on Jan. 8, the report said.
Still, the current number of daily cases remains over twice as high as the numbers during prior peaks.
ABC News’ Brian Hartman and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
COVID-19 hospitalizations at lowest point in US since Thanksgiving
There are currently 91,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States -- the lowest since Nov. 28, which was two days after Thanksgiving, according to an ABC News analysis of data compiled by The COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer-run effort to track the U.S. outbreak.
COVID-19 hospitalizations have declined across the country by nearly 30% over the last three weeks.
In the span of three weeks, the national seven-day average of daily COVID-19 cases has declined by 45.6% -- the steepest and most consistent non-holiday-related drop in cases the U.S. has seen since the summer.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
COVID-19 fatality rate in Africa is now higher than global average
The director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that the COVID-19 fatality rate on the 54-nation continent "is becoming very troubling," as it climbs higher than the global average.
John Nkengasong told reporters during a press conference that the death rate from COVID-19 in Africa, the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, is now 2.6% while the global rate is 2.2%.
Nkengasong said 20 African nations, including South Africa and Sudan, have COVID-19 fatality rates higher than the global average as the continent grapples with new, more contagious variants of the virus. More than 3.5 million people across Africa have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic and nearly 89,000 of them have died, according to the latest data from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The African Union regional bloc has secured 670 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from various manufacturers. In addition, Africa is expecting around 600 million doses from the vaccine-sharing facility COVAX, which aims to start shipping nearly 90 million doses to the continent in February.
Doses secured to vaccinate all US Capitol Police personnel
Enough COVID-19 vaccine doses have been secured to inoculate all U.S. Capitol Police personnel, according to Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman, who credited "efforts of the Congressional Leadership, especially House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Administration."
The federal police force has been hit hard by COVID-19 infections since the Jan. 6 siege at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C..
"The Department expects delivery of the vaccines to occur shortly, and is already working with the Office of Attending Physician on logistics to administer them to our employees as quickly and safely as possible," Pittman said in a statement Thursday.
ABC News’ Jack Date contributed to this report.
Delta to offer vaccines to Atlanta workers
Delta will offer vaccinations to Georgia employees who are 65 and older starting on Monday, a company spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
A health care provider will administer the vaccines in a section of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (Concourse C) and space at the Delta Flight Museum from Feb. 8 to Feb. 14. Delta's headquarters are located in Atlanta.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a memo last week that 690 Delta employees had received at least one vaccination shot.
"We continue to work with federal and state authorities to prioritize immunizations for frontline Delta people," Bastian wrote in the memo. "While healthcare workers and our most vulnerable are already getting their shots, I strongly encourage each of you to get vaccinated when your time comes."
ABC News' Mina Kaji contributed to this report.