Live coverage on this blog has ended, please click here for NBC News' latest coverage of Covid-19.
In the U.S., members of Operation Warp Speed recommended that states should expand access to Covid-19 vaccines to everyone 65 and older, as well as adults with underlying health conditions.
Meanwhile, after months of delays, a team of experts from the World Health Organization has arrived in the Chinese city of Wuhan on a mission to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
China has resisted calls for an international inquiry into the source of the virus — conscious of the negative stigma the country has already suffered in the now global pandemic — but has agreed to let a WHO team in.
- Map of U.S. hot spots and worldwide Covid-19 cases.
- Tracking surges in states across the country this winter.
- Map of travel restrictions and which states have a mask mandate.
- Click here for more of NBC News' Covid-19 coverage.
Refugees in Jordan receive Covid-19 vaccine
Jordan became one of the first countries to provide vaccines to registered refugees, according to a UNHCR statement Thursday.
Jordan’s national vaccination campaign, which came into effect this week, includes anyone living on Jordanian soil. Citizens and residents as well refugees and asylum seekers are entitled to receive vaccinations for free.
The first confirmed Covid-19 case among refugees in Jordan was reported last September. Since then almost 2,000 refugees living in refugee camps have tested positive for the virus, the statement added.
Jordan is home to the second highest share of refugees per capita in the world, with 1.3 million coming from Syria. The Arab nation aims to vaccinate 20 percent of its population in the coming months after procuring three million doses.
France imposes earlier curfew and tightens border control
France will impose a nationwide 6 p.m. curfew on Saturday for at least 15 days, French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced Thursday. Additional stricter measures include requiring travelers from outside the European Union to have a negative Covid-19 test and self-isolate for a week upon arrival.
Unlike the U.K., the French government has repeatedly favored curfews in an attempt to mitigate viral spread. France was already subjected to an 8 p.m. curfew.
France has the seventh highest death toll in the world. The government is especially concerned by the more-transmissible coronavirus variant first detected in Britain, which now accounts for approximately one percent of new cases.
Teachers are using TikTok, media to help students learn
Three dozen mayors ask Biden for direct shipments of vaccine
Mayors of some three-dozen U.S. cities have asked the incoming Biden administration to send Covid-19 vaccine shipments directly to them, bypassing state governments, saying local officials were best positioned to ramp up lagging inoculations.
The move came as Biden, who takes office next Wednesday, readies a $1.9 trillion stimulus package proposal intended to bolster the nation's response to the virus and galvanize the slow rollout of vacciness
"While it is essential to work with state and local public health agencies, healthcare providers, pharmacies, and clinics, there is a need to be nimble and fill gaps that are unique to each local area," said the letter from 37 mayors, including those of New York City, Los Angeles and Seattle.
A Biden transition official declined to comment on the letter, but said Biden would speak about his vaccination plans on Friday.
California hospital fined over Covid outbreak traced to inflatable Christmas costume
A California hospital is facing a potential $43,000 fine from county health officials for alleged delays in reporting a Covid-19 super-spreader event linked to an inflatable Christmas tree costume.
Healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente on Tuesday denied any delay in reporting the Covid-19 cases connected to a Christmas party at its San Jose Medical Center's emergency department.
"The suggestion that we are anything other than forthcoming with our reporting is inaccurate," Kaiser Permanente said in a statement to NBC News, adding it has "maintained consistent communications with multiple state and local agencies regarding COVID-19 cases at our facilities."
The fine issued on last Tuesday is $1,000 for each delayed report of a positive case, but since early January the number of infections connected to the Christmas event has ballooned from 43 to over 90.
Biden lays out $1.9 trillion Covid relief package with $1,400 stimulus checks
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to lay out his $1.9 trillion relief package in a primetime address on Thursday — which will focus on a new round of stimulus checks to struggling Americans and an ambitious vaccine distribution plan to control the deadly pandemic.
Biden will ask the new Democratic-controlled Congress to approve the “American Rescue Plan.” A chunk of the funds —$416 billion— will help launch a national vaccination program with a goal of vaccinating 50 million Americans and reopening schools in the first 100 days of his administration.
His speech comes as the pandemic continues to worsen. According to NBC News' Covid-19 data tracker, there have been 384,375 deaths and more than 23 million cases in the U.S.
It takes time after both doses of Covid vaccine to 'build immunity,' doctor says
1 in 3 L.A. residents have been infected with Covid-19, new modeling shows
LOS ANGELES — As Los Angeles County rapidly approaches 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases, new modeling data suggests 1 in 3 residents have been infected with Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.
The estimate is based on scientific modeling and would mean that 3 million of L.A. county's 10 million residents have, at some point, contracted the virus.
The modeling also suggests that about 1 in 115 residents are currently infectious to others. One week ago that estimate was 1 in 125 people.
On Wednesday, the county's public health director, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, said L.A. has experienced a 1,000 percent increase in Covid-19 cases since Nov. 1. She also warned that the region has not yet seen the full scope of the full post-holiday surge.
Dr. Ruth, 92, gets first dose of Covid-19 vaccine
Renowned sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who will turn 93 later this year, received her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, according to an Instagram post Thursday.
Westheimer said she normally attends a book fair at the Javits Center, but "this time I came and I just got my shot."
"I was a little scared to tell the truth," she added. "It's nothing, so I'll be back here for the second shot in February."