COVID-19 updates: US sees 1st day since early November with fewer than 100,000 new cases
The U.S. reported just over 96,000 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 105 million people worldwide and killed over 2.3 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
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Reported cases down 50% in US, but ICU occupancy remains high in several states, report finds
The number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths are continuing to decline nationwide, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
There has been a four-week downward trend of reported COVID-19 cases – resulting in a 50% decline since the peak on Jan. 8.
However, the rates of adult occupancy in intensive care units remain high in several states, the report found.
So far, 39,037,964 vaccine doses have been administered, with 9% of the population (30.3 million people) having received one or more doses and 3% of the population (8.3 million people) having received two doses.
Since President Joe Biden was sworn in on Jan. 20, 22,512,683 doses have been administered toward his 100 million goal.
ABC News’ Josh Margolin and Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
Cases of UK variant could be doubling every 10 days in the US, study finds
Cases of the more contagious U.K. variant of the COVID-19 virus is spreading rapidly through the U.S., as much as doubling every 10 days, a new study suggests.
The study has not peer reviewed, so it has not been scrutinized for inaccuracies or context by specialists.
It is still not known whether the U.K. variant is more virulent or deadly, but it is more transmissible. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned last month that the U.K. variant could become predominant in the U.S. by March if spread the way it did in the U.K.
Vaccines don’t seem to be strongly impacted by the U.K. variant, but scientists are concerned about the efficacy of the vaccines against the South African variant.
-ABC News’ Eric Strauss
Winter storm shuts down vaccination sites in NY, NJ
A second storm bringing heavy snow to the Northeast has shut down vaccination sites in at least two states.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy both announced that appointments for Sunday would be rescheduled due to the inclement weather.
Mass vaccination sites located indoors, such as the newly opened Yankee Stadium, will continue as scheduled as they have the infrastructure and equipment in place to ensure people can safely enter and exit the location, according to ABC New York station WABC.
9% of Americans have received 1 or more vaccine doses
Nine percent of Americans -- 28.9 million people – have received one or more vaccine doses, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Two percent of Americans -- 7.5 million people -- have received two doses, the report said.
Deaths are down 4% since the peak on Jan. 13, while hospital admissions have decreased 37% since the Jan. 9 peak, the report said.
ABC News’ Josh Margolin and Brian Hartman contributed to this report.
Variants detected at refugee accommodation center in Germany, officials say
An accommodation facility for refugees in the German city of Cologne has been hit by new, more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus, city officials said.
At least 41 residents of the Herkulesstrasse facility have tested positive for COVID-19. Variants first identified in South Africa or Brazil have been detected in 31 of them so far, according to a statement from the city government on Sunday.
At least 16 staff members at the facility have also tested positive for COVID-19, with the South Africa variant detected in 11 of them so far. Variant analysis is still pending on the other five, according to the statement.
All residents of the facility have been under quarantine since Friday, while the site has been under surveillance since Sunday. Entry into the refugee accommodation center, which can house up to 600 people, is currently banned, according to the statement.
The first known COVID-19 cases were confirmed among two employees at the facility about 10 days ago, while the first case of a variant was confirmed last week, according to the statement.
Dr. Harald Rau, head of Cologne's public health department, said the detection of variants at the refugee accommodation center "is a clear alarm signal for all of us."
"I ask all people in Cologne to avoid contact even more consistently than before and to follow the distance and hygiene rules of infection protection," Rau said in a statement Sunday.