Coronavirus updates: 1st vaccines now on the way to all 50 US states
Two main trucks left the Pfizer facility on Sunday morning, the company said.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 71.5 million people and killed over 1.6 million worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
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US reports over 192,000 new cases
There were 192,299 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the United States on Monday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
It's the 35th straight day that the U.S. has reported over 100,000 newly diagnosed infections. Monday's tally is less than the country's all-time high of 227,885 new cases confirmed on Dec. 4, according to Johns Hopkins data.
An additional 1,404 deaths from the disease were also registered nationwide on Monday, down from a peak of 2,879 fatalities on Dec. 3, according to Johns Hopkins data.
COVID-19 data may be skewed due to possible lags in reporting over Thanksgiving followed by a potentially very large backlog from the holiday.
A total of 14,954,331 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 283,746 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins data. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.
Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country's cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up over the summer.
The numbers lingered around 40,000 to 50,000 from mid-August through early October before surging again to record levels, crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4 and reaching 200,000 for the first time on Nov. 27.
Russia extends ban on mass gatherings at schools until 2022
Russia has banned schools and extracurricular clubs from holding mass gatherings until Jan. 1, 2022.
A ban on mass gatherings at Russian schools was first imposed in June to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus and was set to expire on Jan. 1, 2021. But a new decree published Monday and signed by Russia's chief sanitary doctor, Anna Popova, extends the ban and now also applies to sports organizations and other social infrastructure for children and youth.
Universities and colleges are exempt from the ban.
Russia's coronavirus response headquarters said Tuesday it had confirmed 26,097 new cases of COVID-19 as well as 562 deaths from the disease in the past 24 hours. The country's cumulative total currently stands at 2,515,009 confirmed cases with 44,159 deaths.
Despite the growing number of infections and deaths, Russian authorities have repeatedly said they have no plans to impose another nationwide lockdown.
The Eastern European country of 145 million people has the fourth-highest tally of COVID-19 cases in the world, behind only the United States, India and Brazil, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
ABC News' Alina Lobzina contributed to this report.
90-year-old grandmother becomes 1st to receive Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine outside clinical trial
A 90-year-old grandmother became Patient A on Tuesday morning as she was the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine outside a clinical trial.
Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, received the shot -- the first of 800,000 doses -- at University Hospital Coventry in central England at 6:31 a.m., as part of a mass immunization program rolled out across the United Kingdom, according to a press release from the National Health Service (NHS), the country's publicly-funded health care system.
Keenan, a former jewellery shop assistant who only retired four years ago, said she feels "so privileged to be the first person." She will receive a booster injection -- re-exposure to the immunizing antigen after initial vaccination -- in 21 days "to ensure she has the best chance of being protected against the virus," according to the press release.
"It’s the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the New Year after being on my own for most of the year," Keenan, who has two children and four grandchildren, said in a statement released by the NHS.
Last week, the U.K. became the first country in the world to authorize emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. The potentially life-saving vaccine was shown in late-stage clinical trials to be more than 95% effective in preventing COVID-19.
US hospitalizations reach new record of 102,000
The number of Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 related issues rose to another record high Monday, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
There were 102,148 patients in hospitals, 20,098 of whom were in ICUs and 7,073 who were on ventilators, according to the project.
The seven-day average of hospitalizations is also at a record, with 100,814, the health data showed.
"Hospitalizations are rising in 31 states from 2 weeks ago," the tracking project tweeted.
By comparison, hospitalizations previously peaked around 60,000 in April and late July, according to the health data.
The country recorded 180,193 new cases on Monday, the tracking project reported. The seven-day average of new cases is at a record high of 196,882, according to the health data.
There were 1,347 new deaths recorded Monday, according to the tracking project. The seven-day average of daily deaths also reached a record high at 2,204, the health data showed.
"The 7-day average for deaths are at record levels in the Midwest, South, and West," the tracking project tweeted.
South Korea sees record-breaking rise in new cases
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 1,030 newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the country's total to 46,645.
This is the first time since the beginning of the pandemic that South Korea broke the 1,000 mark in new cases and follows Saturday's record of 950 new cases.
Yonhap reports that President Moon Jae-in held an emergency meeting and called the current situation "the worst crisis" since the outbreak began and a "desperate time" when the government should make an all-out effort stem further infections.
-ABC News' Christine Theodorou