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COVID-19 live updates: 'Extremely unlikely' virus came from Chinese lab, WHO says

WHO experts said it's more likely the virus jumped to humans from an animal.

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 106 million people worldwide and killed over 2.3 million, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.


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US congressman dies after contracting COVID-19

U.S. Rep. Ron Wright, R-Texas, died Sunday after contracting COVID-19 last month, his office confirmed in a statement Monday.

Wright, who had lung cancer, was diagnosed with the disease on Jan. 21 and admitted to Baylor Hospital in Dallas. He was 67.

"Over the past few years, Congressman Wright had kept a rigorous work schedule on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and at home in Texas’ Congressional District 6 while being treated for cancer," his office said.

Wright is the second American lawmaker to die after testing positive for COVID-19. Luke Letlow, Louisiana's incoming Republican congressman, died at age 41 in late December, just days before he was due to be sworn in.

ABC News' Mariam Khan contributed to this report.


Delta to block out middle seats through April

Delta Air Lines announced Monday that it will continue blocking out middle seats and limiting capacity on flights because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The extra space will last through April 30, 2021.

"We'll continue to reassess seat blocking in relation to case transmission and vaccination rates," Bill Lentsch, chief customer experience officer of Delta Air Lines, said in a statement.

Delta, which has blocked out seats and limited capacity on flights since last April, is currently the only U.S. airline still blocking out middle seats because of the virus.

ABC News' Gio Benitez contributed to this report.


Some UNC-Chapel Hill classes to go virtual due to crowds after basketball game

Some classes at the University of North Carolina have the option to go virtual for nearly two weeks after school officials received hundreds of complaints following Saturday night's crowd that rushed Franklin Street.

"As you are no doubt aware, last night hundreds of Carolina fans -- many, presumably students -- flooded Franklin Street to celebrate our men’s basketball victory over Duke," UNC-Chapel Hill officials said in a statement Sunday.

UNC-Chapel Hill students have agreed to adhere to COVID-19 rules like state gathering restrictions, mask-wearing and physical distancing, according to university officials.

"Those standards do not include exceptions for winning basketball games," the officials said.

The timing of the crowd fell the weekend before students returned for in-person learning for spring semester. While in-person instruction will continue Monday, faculty are allowed to teach virtually and return to in-person learning on Feb. 17, according to the university. Students who attend in-person classes are required to be tested twice a week.

ABC News' Will Gretzky contributed to this report.


South Africa halts rollout of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine due to new variant

The South African government halted its rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by England's University of Oxford and British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, following trial results that found the shot provided "minimal protection" against mild-to-moderate sickness from a new, more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus spreading in South Africa.

The trial did not assess whether the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine protects against severe illness and death caused by the new variant, known as B1351.

An AstraZeneca spokesperson said the company believes its vaccine will protect against severe disease caused by B1351.

"This was a small study with predominantly young (average 31 years) healthy adults, where severe disease is not predominant. No severe disease or hospitalization was observed in the vaccine or control participants," the spokesperson said in a statement Monday. "We are working closely with the South African Ministry of Health on how best to support the evaluation of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca against severe disease of the B.1.351 variant, and how to bring this vaccine to the South African people."

ABC News' Zoe Magee contributed to this report.


US reports under 100,000 new cases for 2nd straight day

There were 89,727 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 second straight day that the U.S. has reported under 100,000 newly confirmed infections. Monday's case count is also far less than the country's all-time high of 300,282 new cases on Jan. 2. Meanwhile, Sunday's case count of 89,581 was the lowest the U.S. has reported since Nov. 2, Johns Hopkins data shows.

An additional 1,596 fatalities from COVID-19 were registered nationwide on Monday, down from a peak of 5,085 new deaths on Feb. 4, according to Johns Hopkins data.

COVID-19 data may be skewed due to possible lags in reporting over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend last month as well as during storm-related closures in some northeastern states last week.

A total of 27,097,346 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 465,083 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, then reaching 200,000 on Nov. 27 before topping 300,000 on Jan. 2.

So far, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized two COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use -- one developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, and another developed by American biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. More than 42 million vaccine doses have been administered nationwide, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.