The Netherlands is battling two epidemics of the novel coronavirus: one against its existing variants, in which cases are declining, and "another epidemic involving the U.K. variant, in which infections are increasing," the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment said in a situation report released Tuesday.

The so-called U.K. variant, first identified in England last September, has caused a massive jump in COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

In the Netherlands, government officials said they were "gravely concerned about the U.K. variant." Over the weekend they introduced a nighttime curfew which has sparked riots.

Over the last two weeks, the Netherlands has reported an 11.7% positivity rate for COVID-19 tests.

ABC News’ Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

The worldwide number of people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 surpassed 100 million on Tuesday, according to real-time data collected by Johns Hopkins University. The United States accounts for over 25 million of those cases.

For perspective, only 14 countries in the world have populations over 100 million, according to the latest data from the World Bank Group.

The grim milestone comes just over one year since the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Wuhan, China, on Dec. 31, 2019.

The number of people who have died from COVID-19 in the United Kingdom has surpassed 100,000, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Tuesday.

"It's hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic," Johnson said.

More than 35,000 people in the U.K. are hospitalized with COVID-19, which is "substantially" above the peak in April, according to Johnson.

The number of people testing positive for the disease remains high but is decreasing slowly, with 20,089 new cases reported Tuesday, according to Johnson.

ABC News’ Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

This year's Boston Marathon will be held on Oct. 11, if road races are allowed in Massachusetts' reopening plan at that time, according to the Boston Athletic Association.

A virtual race will also be offered as an option to runners.

"While it was of course the right thing to do, canceling the 2020 Boston Marathon for the first time in its 124-year history was one of the hardest announcements to make," Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said in a statement Tuesday.

"Today, I'm filled with hope, as we set our sights on October for the running of the 125th Boston Marathon," he added. "We have a ways to go before we're out of the woods, but guided by sound judgment and the advice of our public health experts, I am hopeful that we'll get to enjoy the return of one of Boston's most storied traditions this fall."

ABC News' Leo Mayorga contributed to this report.

The United States’ first known cases of the South Africa variant of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in two people in South Carolina, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

"There is no known travel history and no connection between these two cases," the department said in a statement Thursday.

Both cases are among adults, one who is from the Lowcountry region and another who is from the Pee Dee region, according to the department.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it's aware of the cases and it "recommends that people avoid travel at this time."

The so-called B1351 variant, first identified in South Africa, has been detected in more than 30 countries, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

"Experts agree that existing vaccines work to protect us from this variant, even if we don’t know precisely how effective they are," the department said. "At this time, there’s no evidence to suggest that the B.1.351 variant causes more severe illness."

During an interview Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America," Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden and the nation's leading infectious disease expert, said the South Africa variant "troubles" him.

Fauci said lab experiments show the neutralizing antibodies induced by existing COVID-19 vaccines are "diminished by multifold" when tested against the B1351 variant

"It's still within the range of what you would predict to be protective," he said, "but I take no great comfort in that."

However, scientists are already working on vaccines that will specifically target the South Africa variant, according to Fauci.

"May not be necessary," he said, "but if it is we'll already be on the road to be able to give people a boost that directs against the South African isolate."