Coronavirus live updates: UK variant detected in US for the first time

December 29, 2020December 29, 2020 WKXA

Ovidiu Dugulan/iStockBy ROSA SANCHEZ, ERIN SCHUMAKER, IVAN PEREIRA and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 81.5 million people worldwide and killed over 1.7 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Here’s how the news is developing Tuesday. All times Eastern:

Dec 29, 6:46 pm
Texas hits new records for daily cases, hospitalizations

Texas broke records for daily cases and hospitalizations on Tuesday, according to the state’s health department.

The state recorded 26,990 news cases and 49 new deaths, the health department said. There were 11,775 hospitalized statewide and Texas had 653 available intensive care unit beds, according to the health data.

The new cases were announced on the same day it was revealed that only 163,700 of the 611,850 vaccine doses received by the state have been administered so far. Gov. Greg Abbott previously said he expected to receive 1.4 million doses by the end of the year.

Texas Health Commissioner Dr. John Hellerstedt said in a statement that no vaccine should be kept in reserve.

“All providers that have received COVID-19 vaccine must immediately vaccinate healthcare workers, Texans over the age of 65, and people with medical conditions that put them at a greater risk of severe disease or death from COVID-19,” he said in a statement.

-ABC News’ Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.

Dec 29, 6:00 pm
Africa cases jump 20% in last week: WHO

Africa has seen a 20% increase in new coronavirus cases and a 37% jump in deaths over the last week, with South Africa leading the continent’s spike, according to the World Health Organization.

There were 114,000 new cases and 2,558 COVID-19-related fatalities reported in the region, according to WHO’s weekly report.

South Africa had the most new cases and deaths in the region during that period according to the report.

The country recorded 82,434 new cases and 1,982 new deaths, WHO said.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

Dec 29, 5:39 pm
CDC expects more COVID variant cases

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control sent out a statement following the first discovery of the UK variant of the coronavirus in Colorado.

“We expect that there will be additional cases that are likely to be detected in the coming days,” the agency said in its statement.

“Viruses constantly change through mutation, and new variants of a virus are expected to occur over time. Multiple variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 have been documented in the United States and globally during this pandemic.”

The CDC added that the UK variant doesn’t appear to cause more severe disease or mortality, but warned it does appear to have a higher transmission rate.

“Based on studies with other viruses containing similar mutations, CDC believes there will be little or no impact on immunity from natural infection or vaccination,” the agency said.

-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.

Dec 29, 4:41 pm
UK variant detected in Colorado

A man in his 20s in Colorado is confirmed to have the COVID-19 variant that was detected in the United Kingdom, Colorado officials said.

The man, who’s had no travel history, is in isolation, officials said.

“Public health officials are doing a thorough investigation,” Colorado officials said. “The individual has no close contacts identified so far, but public health officials are working to identify other potential cases and contacts through thorough contact tracing interviews.”

The variants are all the same virus, no matter their small genetic differences. SARS-COV-2 is a respiratory virus, meaning it is transmitted through droplets, so masks and social distancing still work to slow transmission, no matter the variant.

Dec 29, 4:37 pm
Stay-at-home order extended in hard-hit Southern California

Stay-at-home orders are extended in California’s hard-hit Southern California and the state’s San Joaquin region, where ICU capacities remain at 0%.

Hospitalizations in the Golden State have increased 36.5% over the last two weeks; now 20,390 coronavirus patients are in hospitals.

ICU hospitalizations have increased 35.1% over last two weeks and now stand at 4,308 patients.

Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of California Health and Human Services, on Tuesday outlined plans for hospitals’ “crisis care” mode, which is when care for patients would have to be rationed. California is not there yet, he said, adding that it’s important to prepare.

“We certainly know SoCal hospitals are in crisis,” Ghaly said.

“Some hospitals in SoCal have put in place some practices that would be part of crisis care, whether it’s decisions about how ambulances are received or how stretched staff become,” Ghaly said. “But we have not heard of a hospital needing to make a decision between two patients who need ventilators and needed to make a decision between them or any care decisions like that.”

ICU capacity in California’s three other regions stand at: 10.4% in the Bay Area, 19.1% in Greater Sacramento and 27.9% in Northern California. All regions but Northern California are under stay-at-home orders.

ABC News’ Alyssa Pone, Alex Stone and Michelle Mendez contributed to this report.

Dec 29, 2:56 pm
UK grandmother who was 1st to get vaccine gets her 2nd second dose

Margaret Keenan, the 91-year-old grandmother in the United Kingdom who was the first in the world (outside of clinical trials) to get the Pfizer vaccine, got her second dose on Tuesday.

Keenan, then 90, received her first dose on Dec. 8.

ABC News’ Rashid Haddou contributed to this report.

Dec 29, 1:57 pm
January may be worse than December, Fauci warns

Dr. Anthony Fauci says the pandemic has “gotten out of control” and warned that January may be worse than December.

“That is what we’re concerned about,” Fauci told CNN. “That in addition to the surge, we’re going to have an increase … which could make January even worse than December. I hope not, I hope that doesn’t happen, but it certainly is possible.”

“I think we just have to assume that it’s gonna get worse,” he said.

In terms of vaccines administered so far, Fauci said, “We certainly are not at the numbers that we wanted to be at the end of December.”

Over 11.4 million vaccine doses have been distributed and 2,127,143 Americans have received their first vaccine dose, according to the CDC.

Fauci said he believes there’ll be “an increase in the momentum” of vaccinations in January.

“Not being responsible myself for the rollout, I can’t personally guarantee that we’re gonna catch up,” Fauci said. “I hope we do.”

Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir said the data on people vaccinated is delayed.

“We know that’s underreported because there’s a three to seven-day delay. But we expect that to ramp up,” Giroir told MSNBC Tuesday..

ABC News’ Brian Hartman contributed to this report.

Dec 29, 1:28 pm
UK variant isn’t more deadly, preliminary analysis finds

A preliminary analysis from Public Health England found that the new COVID-19 variant detected in the United Kingdom isn’t more deadly than the prior dominant variant.

It’s still likely that the new variant is more easily transmissible, because of the speed at which it has outpaced the prior variant.

This new variant now accounts for over half of the new positive cases in the U.K., the study said.

In addition to several European nations, the variant has also been reported in North America and Asia.

Dec 29, 12:41 pm
Russian official admits COVID-19 death toll higher than reported

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova told reporters Monday that Russia’s total number of deaths from all causes during the pandemic has risen by 13.8% between January and November compared to the same period last year.

Of those excess deaths, Golikova said 81% of them were caused by COVID-19.

Data released by Russia’s state statistics agency shows that Russia has recorded 230,000 more deaths this year compared to 2019. If 81% of those are COVID-19 related, then the country’s total COVID-19 death toll is 186,000.

That is three times more than the official death toll published by the country’s health authorities (54,000).

A total of 186,000 fatalities would bring Russia’s death toll to the third worst in the world behind the U.S. and Brazil.

Dec 29, 12:02 pm
California, Tennessee see highest daily case average

December has been the worst month on record for cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Even with delays in reporting because of the holidays, hundreds of thousands of Americans are still testing positive for the virus every day.

The U.S. has logged more than 5.6 million cases in the first 28 days of December — more than any month on record, according to ABC News’ analysis of data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project.

According to the CDC, California currently has the highest average of daily cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days, followed by Tennessee, Oklahoma and Arizona.

Across the U.S., 121,235 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 — setting a new record high since the pandemic began. That total is double the previous hospitalization peaks from April and July.

Dec 29, 11:48 am
January may be worse than December, Fauci warns

Dr. Anthony Fauci says the pandemic has “gotten out of control” and warned that January may be worse than December.

“I think we just have to assume that it’s gonna get worse,” he said.

Dec 29, 11:05 am
Kamala Harris gets vaccine

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris received her first dose of the Moderna vaccine on Tuesday morning at United Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

“That was easy!” she said after. “I barely felt it.”

“I want to encourage everyone to get the vaccine,” Harris said. “It is literally about saving lives. I trust the scientists, and it is the scientists who created and approved this vaccine.”

“Right in your community is where you can take the vaccine,” Harris said. “Where you will receive the vaccine by folks you may know, folks who otherwise are working in the same hospital where your children were born, folks who are working in the same hospital where an elderly relative received the kind of care that they needed. So I want to remind people that they have trusted sources of health, and that’s where they will be able to go to get the vaccine, so I encourage them to do that.”

Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, also received the vaccine.

Dec 29, 10:46 am
Vaccinations begin at Massachusetts long-term care facility, a COVID hot spot

Staff and residents of Holyoke Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, Massachusetts, started receiving COVID-19 vaccinations Tuesday morning.

Staff looked on as the first person — a 78-year-old man in a wheelchair wearing a blue Snoopy mask — was inoculated.

The long-term care facility has suffered one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the country. In the spring, 76 veterans who lived at the home died of the virus. A resident who had been living in an off-site nursing facility since April died earlier this month.

Two former top administrators pleaded not guilty to criminal negligence charges connected to the residents’ deaths, WCVB reported.

U.S. states have begun vaccinating patients at long-term care facilities in an effort to keep the most vulnerable Americans safe from the virus. The government’s goal is to have 20 million Americans vaccinated by the end of the year.

Dec 29, 8:38 am
TSA screens over 1 million people Monday

The TSA screened 1,111,751 travelers at checkpoints across the U.S. on Monday. This marked the seventh day within the last 11 days that more than 1 million people were traveling.

Dec 29, 12:42 am
COVID vaccines given to general public in Kentucky a ‘mistake,’ governor says

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear spoke out Monday after Walgreens stores in Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky, gave COVID-19 vaccines to members of the general public.

Beshear said at a press conference that last week, the pharmacies were left with extra doses of the vaccine after administering it to long-term care facilities, so, they offered the leftover doses to average citizens. This, the governor said, does not follow government protocol, as the vaccine is not yet being given to the general public.

“I don’t think that this was intentional, and we have to understand that in an undertaking this massive that mistakes are going to happen,” Beshear said. “I believe that here a mistake happened in the thawing, but the reaction wasn’t what it should’ve been.”

In a statement, Walgreens said that per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance, Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine can be at refrigerated temperatures for only five days, so, to avoid wasting doses of the valuable vaccine after giving it to at-risk adults in long-term care facilities, they used the leftover doses they had on residents.

The doses were offered to local first responders, Walgreens pharmacy and store team members and residents of the community, many of whom were over age 65, Walgreens said.

“These measures were taken to ensure every dose of a limited vaccine supply was used to protect patients and communities,” the company added. “We will utilize excess vaccine inventory in priority patient populations and continue to work closely with state and federal health agencies in our efforts to vaccinate residents in long-term care facilities and ensure requested doses meet their needs.”