The U.S. broke records in new COVID-19 cases and current hospitalizations on Friday, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

There were 232,105 new cases, and 108,044 people are currently hospitalized with the virus, the project reported.

The seven-day average for new COVID-19 cases, deaths and current hospitalizations also reached new highs on Friday, it found.

Nevada, South Dakota and Arizona now lead the nation in current hospitalized patients per million people, according to the tracker.

After a slowdown in reporting and testing over the Thanksgiving holiday, week-over-week COVID-19 numbers continue to show dramatic increases in new cases and deaths, according to an internal U.S. Department of Health and Human Services memo obtained by ABC News Friday night.

From Dec. 5 to 11, there was an 18.1% increase in new cases and a 26.9% increase in new deaths compared with the previous week, the memo said.

Across the country, 31% of hospitals have more than 80% of their intensive care unit beds filled, and 31% of ventilators in use are occupied by COVID-19 patients, HHS said. Additionally, 21% of inpatients have COVID-19, nearing the all-time peak of 24%.

Cases are sharply rising in Alaska, California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Utah, the memo noted. Maryland, South Dakota and Wyoming have also seen a surge in COVID-19 fatality rates.

-ABC News' Josh Margolin

Los Angeles County reported a new high for COVID-19 cases on Friday, topping the record set the day before.

There were 13,815 new cases reported on Friday, surpassing Thursday's record by nearly 1,000.

Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer attributed the surge to Thanksgiving gatherings.

"The impact of these Thanksgiving surges of cases, on top of already rising cases, is creating extraordinary stress," she said at a briefing. "Should this be followed by another surge related to the winter holiday, the numbers of hospitalizations and patients in the ICU could become catastrophic."

There are 3,624 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19. In two weeks, that could be over 7,300 people, Ferrer warned, if the average number of cases and hospitalizations continue to climb.

-ABC News' Bonnie Mclean and Cammeron Parrish contributed to this report

The Department of Health and Human Services said it’s buying another 100 million doses of Moderna's vaccine candidate, which is scheduled for review by the FDA advisory committee next Thursday.

The federal government will now own a total 200 million doses of the Moderna vaccine.

ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs contributed to this report.

South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has called on final-year students who attended end-of-year parties to immediately self-quarantine for 10 days to prevent spreading the novel coronavirus.

Mkhize made the plea to students and parents on Sunday, after numerous people who recently attended "Rage" parties in Ballito and Jeffrey's Bay tested positive for COVID-19. The events are hosted every year in South Africa as thousands of students celebrate the end of matriculation.

"We confirm that we have now identified a number of COVID-19 confirmed cases arising from these super-spreader events," Mkhize said in a statement. "This therefore means that if you attended any of these Rage events, you are now regarded as a contact."

In addition to quarantining, Mkhize also urged attendees to get tested as soon as possible.

South Africa has the highest tally of COVID-19 infections in all of Africa, with more than 814,000 confirmed cases including over 22,000 deaths.