Coronavirus updates: Herd immunity by fall 'ambitious,' says surgeon general nominee
In 44 states, the seven-day average of new cases dropped over 10%.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 98.7 million people worldwide and killed over 2.1 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Latest headlines:
'Patient No. 1' in US is now 'back to his normal life'
On Jan. 20, 2020, the first COVID-19 patient in the United States, known as "patient No. 1," was brought to a Washington state hospital.
Dr. George Diaz, the head of infectious diseases at Providence Regional Medical Center in Seattle, treated that patient. Diaz would later learn how to isolate COVID-19 patients properly, how to protect hospital staff and how to treat the illness.
"We used Remdesivir, which was a new anti-viral at the time. He was the first patient to receive this drug in the world, and he had a good response to treatment," Diaz told ABC's "Nightline."
"Patient No. 1" was treated for five days before being released from the hospital, Diaz said. One year later, he is "doing great," Diaz said.
"He's fully recovered and back to his normal life," Diaz said. "Many people survive the illness but have lots of medical problems afterwards. Fortunately, Patient One recovered well."
ABC News’ Lauren Effron contributed to this report.
France to require negative COVID-19 test for all arrivals by boat or plane
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that all travelers arriving by boat or plane will have to test negative for COVID-19 before entering the country.
The new measure, which goes into effect Sunday, includes visitors from within the European Union as well as those outside the regional bloc. They must take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test up to three days before departure and provide evidence of a negative result before they travel, according to a statement from Macron's office released late Thursday.
People traveling for essential reasons, such as cross-border or ground transportation workers, will be exempt from the requirement. People arriving from other EU member states by train or car will also be exempt.
France has the sixth-highest tally of diagnosed COVID-19 cases in the world, after the United States, India, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
The European nation of 67 million people confirmed another 22,848 cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, along with an additional 358 fatalities from the disease. That brings the cumulative totals to 2,987,965 cases and 71,998 deaths, according to the latest data from France's public health agency.
ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud contributed to this report.
Fauci says lack of truthfulness from Trump administration 'very likely' cost American lives
When asked during an interview Friday on CNN's "New Day" about whether the Trump administration's lack of truthfulness in some cases regarding the coronavirus pandemic had cost American lives, Dr. Anthony Fauci said "it very likely did."
"I don't want that, John, to be a soundbite, but I think if you just look at that you can see that when when you're starting to go down paths that are not based on any science at all," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN's John Berman. "Particularly when you're in the situation of almost being in a crisis with the number of cases and hospitalizations and deaths that we have -- when you start talking about things that make no sense medically and no sense scientifically, that clearly is not helpful."
Fauci, who was a member of former President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force, had disagreed with Trump on how to approach the pandemic. At one point, Trump suggested he was considering firing Fauci.
"There's no secret, we've had a lot of divisiveness," Fauci, who is now the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, told CNN. "We've had facts that were very, very clear that were questioned. People were not trusting what health officials were saying."
NFL invites vaccinated health care workers to Super Bowl
The National Football League announced Friday that it's inviting 7,500 vaccinated health care workers to attend the Feb. 7 Super Bowl in Florida “to thank and honor them for their continued extraordinary service during the pandemic.”
New Zealand reports 1st community COVID-19 case since November
The New Zealand Health Ministry announced Sunday it recorded its first coronavirus case from within the community in three months.
New Zealand has been reporting positive cases in managed isolation, which requires anyone who travels into the country, both citizens and non-citizens, to go into a 14-day quarantine in a designated facility. There have been no cases from within the community since November.
The female patient traveled in Spain and the Netherlands late last year for work, according to officials.
"While in the Netherlands she was in contact with family members, who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19," the health ministry said in a statement.
The patient arrived in Auckland on Dec. 30 following a trip from the United Kingdom with a layover in Singapore, according to the Health Ministry. The patient stayed at a hotel during her 14-day quarantine and tested negative on Jan. 2 and Jan. 10, according to the Health Ministry.
"The person started developing mild symptoms on 15 January and these progressively got worse. The person had a test taken on Friday 22 January and self-isolated at home," the Health Ministry said in a statement.
The patient's roommate hasn't shown any symptoms so far, but has been tested and is isolating at home, according to the Health Ministry.
The Health Ministry said it is contact tracing and carrying out rapid genome sequencing to see if there's a match to one of the more transmissible variants.
-ABC News' Christine Theodorou