Coronavirus updates: US will soon have 'half a million' deaths, incoming CDC chief says

The U.S. is forecast to have almost 500,000 COVID-19 deaths by mid-February.

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 94.2 million people worldwide and killed over 2 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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CDC expands testing rules for people flying to US

Beginning Jan. 26, those flying to the U.S. from foreign countries must follow new rules that were announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday.

Passengers must take a COVID-19 test “within the 3 days before their flight to the U.S. departs, and provide written documentation of their laboratory test result (paper or electronic copy) to the airline or provide documentation of having recovered from COVID-19,” the CDC said.

“Airlines must confirm the negative test result for all passengers or documentation of recovery before they board,” the CDC said. “If a passenger does not provide documentation of a negative test or recovery, or chooses not to take a test, the airline must deny boarding to the passenger.”

The CDC also asks travelers “to get tested again 3-5 days after arrival and stay home for 7 days post-travel.”

ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.


Dems will implement new mask penalties on House floor

Democrats are moving forward Tuesday night with plans to implement a mask requirement on the House floor.

As part of their first vote series, they will adopt language implementing a fine system for noncompliance with Speaker Nancy Pelosi's mask requirement, according to a senior House Democratic aide.

Members will be fined $500 for their first offense and $2,500 for their second offense. Fines will be deducted from members' pay.

Separately, a House administrative body will review whether to add a new fine system for non-compliance in the House office buildings on the south side of the U.S. Capitol complex.

Three House Democrats have tested positive for COVID-19 since the Capitol siege.

ABC News’ Ben Siegel contributed to this report.


3rd House Democrat tests positive after sheltering with unmasked Republicans

Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., said he tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, becoming the third Democrat to do so after sheltering at the Capitol with several Republicans who were unmasked for "several hours” during Wednesday’s siege.

After “narrowly escaping” the violence, Schneider said in a statement, “I was forced to spend several hours in a secure but confined location with dozens of other Members of Congress. Several Republican lawmakers in the room adamantly refused to wear a mask.”

“I am now in strict isolation, worried that I have risked my wife’s health and angry at the selfishness and arrogance of the anti-maskers who put their own contempt and disregard for decency ahead of the health and safety of their colleagues and our staff,” he continued.

Schneider said he hasn't had any symptoms and that he drove home from Washington, D.C., to Illinois.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, both Democrats, have also said they tested positive following the Capitol siege.

Schneider is joining the growing number of Democrats demanding that the House sanction members who don’t wear masks on the House floor.

At a virtual press conference Tuesday, Schneider said, "I don’t know from whom I got this virus or even necessarily if I got it in that room. But I know that my exposure in that room was greater than at any other time through this entire pandemic.”

ABC News’ Ben Siegel and Matthew Vann contributed to this report.


Maryland reports 2 cases of UK variant

Two people from Anne Arundel County, Maryland, are confirmed to have the coronavirus variant that originated in the United Kingdom, Gov. Larry Hogan said, reported WBAL-TV.

The couple traveled to multiple continents, the governor said. They are in isolation and state officials are conducting contact tracing, WBAL-TV reported.

Maryland is at least the 10th state to confirm the presence of the U.K. variant, following Connecticut, Minnesota, Georgia, Colorado, New York, Florida, California, Pennsylvania and Texas.

The U.K. variant appears to spread more easily but there’s no evidence that it is more deadly.

ABC News’ Dee Carden contributed to this report.


Mexico detects 1st case of UK variant

A new, more infectious variant of the novel coronavirus that was first detected in the United Kingdom has now been discovered in Mexico.

The strain, called B117, was confirmed in a 56-year-old foreign citizen who had traveled from Amsterdam to Mexico City on Dec. 28, and then to the northeastern city of Matamoros the following day. The individual was asymptomatic when he arrived in the country, according to Mexico's director general of epidemiology, Jose Luis Alomia Zegarra.

After testing positive for COVID-19, the man was admitted to a Mexican hospital last week where he remains intubated, Zegarra said.

Genomic sequencing of the patient's sample that tested positive for COVID-19 revealed its B117 lineage. More than 500 suspected cases of the U.K. variant have been tested in Mexico, but this is the country's first verified case, according to Zegarra.

Mexican health authorities are tracking contacts of the patient, including people who traveled on the same flight. Two individuals who showed symptoms have since tested negative for COVID-19, while another 31 are asymptomatic and remain in isolation. Officials have been unable to locate 12 others, Zegarra said.

The highly contagious strain has become prevalent in London and other parts of southeast England, after first being identified in the English county of Kent in September. The B117 variant has since been detected in over a dozen other countries.