North Carolina has identified its first case of the coronavirus’ United Kingdom variant, state health officials said.

The variant was confirmed in an adult in Mecklenburg County.

The U.S. has 195 confirmed cases of the variant across 21 states, according to North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services.

ABC News’ Josh Hoyos contributed to this report.

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are going down across the country.

In 44 states, the seven-day average of new cases has dropped over 10% since last week, The COVID Tracking Project reported Thursday. Daily cases are rising in only one state -- Virginia.

In 24 states, the number of current hospitalizations decreased by more than 10% from a week ago, it found. Everywhere else in the nation, hospitalizations are relatively flat.

United Airlines' top executive said he would like the airline to require COVID-19 vaccination for employees.

"I think the right thing to do is for United Airlines, and for other companies, to require the vaccines," CEO Scott Kirby said during an employee town hall Thursday. "That said, we have to have the logistic challenges worked out … and we need some others to show leadership, particularly in the health care industry."

Kirby told employees that if other companies mandate vaccines, "You should probably expect United to be amongst the first wave of companies that do it as well."

For now, United is urging employees to get the vaccine as soon as possible, according to an internal memo obtained by ABC News.

On an earnings call yesterday, an executive said the company has been working with local governments "to move our employees up in prioritization of essential workers for vaccination, both for their safety and the safety of our customers."

-ABC News' Gio Benitez

Two people -- a man and a child -- were identified as the first cases of the United Kingdom variant in New Jersey, officials said.

The Ocean County man, who is in his 60s, had no travel history or clear exposures to others who were ill, said the state’s Health Commissioner, Judy Persichilli.

He developed symptoms on Dec. 29 and was tested one week later. His “symptoms have since resolved and he was never hospitalized,” Persichilli said.

The child, who had traveled to northern New Jersey, was tested on Jan. 11 in New York City and is asymptomatic, she said.

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

Twenty-three reports of suspected deaths associated with COVID-19 vaccines have been submitted to Norway's national health registry as of Jan. 14, according to an updated statement from the country's drug regulator on Monday.

The Norwegian Medicines Agency said it "cannot rule out that adverse reactions to the vaccine occurring within the first days following vaccination (such as fever and nausea) may contribute to more serious course and fatal outcome in patients with severe underlying disease."

Thirteen of those reports have been assessed by the drug regulator, as well as the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

"The reports suggest that common adverse reactions to mRNA vaccines, such as fever and nausea, may have contributed to a fatal outcome in some frail patients," Sigurd Hortemo, chief physician at the Norwegian Medicines Agency, said in the statement.

Steinar Madsen, medical director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency, told the state-run broadcaster NRK: "We are not alarmed by this."

"It is quite clear that these vaccines have very little risk, with a small exception for the frailest patients," Madsen said. "Doctors must now carefully consider who should be vaccinated. Those who are very frail and at the very end of life can be vaccinated after an individual assessment."

Norway is currently administering COVID-19 vaccines to the elderly and people in nursing homes with serious underlying diseases -- at first with just the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine up until Jan. 15, and then also with the Moderna vaccine. Official figures show that more than 30,000 people have received the first shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines in Norway since the end of December.

According to the Norwegian Medicines Agency, an average of 400 people die each week in nursing homes and long-term care facilities nationwide.

The Scandinavian country of 5.3 million people has confirmed more than 58,000 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including at least 521 deaths, according to the latest data from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.