SALTILLO, Mexico—Dozens of migrant shelters in Mexico have closed their doors or scaled back operations in recent weeks to curb the ravages of coronavirus, exposing people to greater peril just as migration from Central America to the United States is on the rise again.

Reuters spoke to people responsible for over 40 shelters that had offered refuge to thousands on a route where immigrants without legal documentation often face assaults, robberies and kidnappings—before the pandemic forced them to shut or limit capacity.

The closures are a fresh headache for migrants already coping with reductions to the southern routes of a Mexican cargo train known as "La Bestia" (The Beast) that has long helped them get north.

Fewer shelters mean fewer safe places for Central Americans to take cover, even as many walk hundreds more miles than before, over a dozen migrants told Reuters.

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The United States recorded 215,867 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, along with 1,522 new deaths.

The country has logged at least 1,000 deaths a day every day since November 29.

The following states set new single-day case records Sunday:

• Arizona, 17,234 cases
• New Hampshire, 1,266 cases
• Oklahoma, 8,017 cases
• South Carolina, 8,951 cases

Overall, there have been 20,711,482 recorded cases and 352,340 deaths in the United States as of 10 a.m. Monday.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. health and human services secretary is shooting down the idea of expanding the number of Americans getting a Covid-19 vaccine by giving them only one dose instead of the two being administered now.

Alex Azar says the U.S. is “holding in reserve that second dose” because that’s what the science says to do.

Some health experts have suggested that, with vaccine supplies short, people might get partial protection from a single dose and that should be considered as a way to reach far more people faster. But Azar says “the data just isn’t there to support that and we’re not going to do that.”

The two vaccines approved in the U.S. so far, one by Pfizer and the German firm BioNTech and the other by Moderna, each require double doses.

Azar spoke Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Azar says the U.S. has reported 1.5 million vaccinations in the last 72 hours, a “very rapid uptick” that he predicts will continue.

Austria has scrapped plans to allow anyone with a negative coronavirus test to exit lockdown a week early, Austrian health minister Rudolf Anschober said Monday morning.

The closure of nonessential shops as well as hospitality venues is set to be extended by one week until Jan. 24, along with the mandatory stay-at-home order for people in all of Austria’s states.

In neighboring Germany, several media outlets, including the country’s BILD newspaper, have reported that  state leaders are generally in agreement to extend the Covid-19 lockdown until the end of January.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to meet with the 16 state leaders on Tuesday to discuss the situation in the country and the lockdown extension. 

Austria has reported 6,324 Covid-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic and more than 365,000 cases, while Germany's death toll stands at 34,574, with nearly 1.8 million cases reported so far.

Zelene Blancas, an El Paso, Texas, teacher whose sweet classroom routine went viral in 2018, has died from Covid-19, Sunset Funeral Homes-West confirmed to "TODAY." A verified GoFundMe organized by her family also announced the news on Saturday.

Blancas, 35, taught first grade at Dr. Sue A. Shook Elementary. According to the GoFundMe, Blancas first tested positive for the virus on Oct. 20 and was hospitalized in the intensive care unit on Oct. 24.

According to the GoFundMe, Blancas took "all precautions possible" to avoid the virus. According to the Dr. Sue A. Shook Elementary website, the school has been conducting classes virtually since March.

In 2018, Blancas went viral after sharing a video of her first-grade students hugging and high-fiving each other. Students were given the option of choosing between a hug, handshake, high-five or fist bump to show kindness to their classmates.

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MOSCOW — Russia reported Monday that its number of new coronavirus cases hit a six-week low, continuing a steady decline that began in late December.

The national coronavirus taskforce said 23,551 cases were recorded in the previous day, the lowest daily toll since Nov. 18 and substantially lower than the high of 29,335 reported on Dec. 24.

The taskforce reported 482 new deaths from Covid-19, down from 635 on Dec. 24. More than 3.26 million coronavirus infections have been recorded in Russia throughout the pandemic and 58,988 deaths.

Despite a surge in new infections this fall, Russian officials have shied away from imposing a national lockdown in an effort to protect the economy, relying instead on local restrictions. Russia has been inoculating medical workers and other key groups with its own Russian-made coronavirus vaccine called Sputnik V.

PARIS — France's cautious approach to its virus vaccine rollout appears to have backfired, leaving just a few hundred people vaccinated after the first week and rekindling anger over the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

President Emmanuel Macron is holding a special meeting with top government officials Monday afternoon to address the vaccine strategy and other virus developments.

In France, a country of 67 million people, just 516 people were vaccinated in the first six days while Germany’s first-week total surpassed 200,000 and Italy’s was over 100,000. Millions, meanwhile, have been vaccinated in the U.S. and China.

The slow vaccine rollout is being blamed on mismanagement and staffing shortages during end-of-year vacations – as well as a complex consent policy designed to accommodate broad vaccine skepticism among the French public.

TOKYO — Japan’s prime minister said vaccine approval was being speeded up as the coronavirus spreads in the nation scheduled to hold the already-delayed 2020 Olympics this summer.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga stressed his determination to hold the Olympics and said preparations were moving ahead. The Games are scheduled to be held in July, which will mean the arrival of tens of thousands of athletes, officials and media.

Suga said holding the Olympics will be “proof that people have overcome the coronavirus,” giving “hope and courage.”

The vaccine timetable will advance by a month, meaning the approvals will start this month and vaccinations will be administered to people beginning in February, instead of March or later.

Cases have been growing in Japan in recent weeks, with more than 3,400 deaths so far related to the coronavirus.