Several hundred White House staffers have already been vaccinated against COVID-19 by the White House medical team, White House officials said, confirming a report from Axios.

The White House hopes to vaccinate all in-person staff in the next few weeks, officials said.

ABC News’ Molly Nagle contributed to this report

The United States is seeing improvements in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations. In the last two weeks, the country's seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases has declined by 33.1%, according to ABC News' analysis of data compiled by The COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer-run effort to track the U.S. outbreak.

On Monday, Missouri reported the fewest number of new cases since September, while South Dakota reported the lowest number of new cases since July.

COVID-19 hospitalizations are also declining nationwide. The COVID Tracking Project said the number of people hospitalized with the disease in the U.S. is currently at its lowest since Dec. 14.

Hospitalizations are even trending down in California, which has more COVID-19 patients in hospitals than any other U.S. state.

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulous contributed to this report.

Colombian President Ivan Duque announced Tuesday that Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujilo died in the early morning hours from COVID-19 complications. He was 69.

"I can't express the pain that I have," Duque said in a statement while conveying his condolences to Trujilo's family.

Colombia has the third-highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Americas, behind the United States and Brazil, according to the World Health Organization.

ABC News’ Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

Europe's longest land border, spanning more than 1,000 miles, has closed for the first time since World War II.

Sweden's temporary ban on entry from neighboring Norway went into effect Monday and will last until at least Feb. 14. The Swedish government has also extended an entry ban from the United Kingdom and Denmark until the same date.

The move comes amid concerns over a new, more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus that was first identified in the U.K. and has since spread to Norway's capital and the surrounding area.

On Saturday, shortly before Sweden announced the new travel ban, the Norwegian government imposed strict new lockdown measures for Oslo and nine neighboring municipalities due to an outbreak of the variant.

ABC News' Clark Bentson contributed to this report.

Massachusetts lifted its stay-at-home order Monday, which had asked residents not to go out between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. and required businesses to close at 9:30 p.m.

"Vaccines are reaching residents, positive case rates and hospitalizations have stabilized; those trends are moving in the right direction," Gov. Charlie Baker said during a Jan. 21 press conference announcing the loosened restrictions. "As a result, we believe it's OK and it's time to start a gradual easing of some of the restrictions we put in place in the fall," Baker said.

Restaurants and other businesses will still be capped at 25% occupancy until at least Feb. 8, according to Baker. Gatherings are still limited to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors.

-ABC News' Brian Hartman contributed to this report.