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More than 400,000 people have died of the coronavirus in the U.S., according to an NBC News tally early Tuesday. It's a milestone that seemed unimaginable at the start of the pandemic a year ago.
As U.S. health officials rush to vaccinate as many vulnerable people as possible, Covid-19 continued to spread at record high rates, with the United States facing a risk of new mutant virus strains spreading from the U.K., Brazil, South Africa as well as new strains emerging in the U.S.
- 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.
Moderna 'cooperating' with Calif. officials amid possible allergic reactions to vaccine
Moderna says it is "fully cooperating" with California public health officials after some people were treated for possible allergic reactions to one lot of the company's Covid-19 vaccine.
"The company is fully cooperating with [the California Department of Public Health] in investigating these reported adverse events," Moderna said in a statement Tuesday, adding that it was not aware of "comparable adverse events" from other centers in the state that had vaccinated people from the same batch.
California epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan has said "fewer than 10 individuals required medical attention over the span of 24 hours" amid reports of possible allergic reactions.
Biden Covid adviser challenges Cuomo's letter to buy vaccine directly from Pfizer
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sent a letter to Pfizer on Monday asking if the state of New York could buy vaccines directly from the company. Last week, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made a similar request to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
Cuomo said the federal government is sending his state 50,000 fewer doses of the vaccine than the week before. The state was getting fewer doses as the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionexpanded vaccine eligibility to anyone over the age of 65 on Jan. 12.
President-elect Joe Biden’s Covid Advisory Board member Dr. Celine Gounder on Monday slammed the Trump administration’s piecemeal Covid response as some states across the U.S. scramble to get the vaccine doses they need.
“I think we’ve already had too much of a patchwork response across the states,” Gounder said in an interview on “The News with Shepard Smith.”
U.S. teen jailed in Cayman Islands for breaking Covid protocols receives reduced sentence
An American college student who broke the mandatory 14-day quarantine protocol for visitors in the Cayman Islands received a reduced jail sentence after her lawyer filed an appeal arguing that the punishment was “particularly harsh.”
A spokesperson for the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal told NBC News in an email that the jail time for Skylar Mack, 18, and her boyfriend, Vanjae Ramgeet, 24, was cut from four to two months on Tuesday.
The lawyer for the couple said the two were incredibly sorry for their actions.
Zoom funerals, outdoor classes: Jails are evolving amid Covid, but what happens afterward?
When his father died last year of an overdose, Rodney Watson thought he would miss the funeral and his last chance to say goodbye — not because of the pandemic, but because he was in jail. Watson, 36, was awaiting trial in Houston after shooting and wounding his brother during a fight, an act he swears was unintentional.
In the past, Watson’s incarceration could have forced him to miss the elegant church funeral with the white roses and the military burial where they played Smokey Robinson. He wouldn’t have heard his family tell him they loved him and it would be all right.
But under a new practice adopted by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, he was able to watch it all in November on a Zoom video call from inside the jail.
In Houston and a handful of other cities and states, the pandemic has pushed the criminal legal system to reimagine itself a bit, delivering services in ways that might have seemed unthinkable a year ago, from outdoor vocational programs to art classes via Google Hangouts. These are cutting-edge changes that have been a lifeline for incarcerated people craving contact with their families and opportunities to better themselves. But they come with risk: Families of prisoners fear corrections officials will use the technology to replace in-person interactions even after the pandemic ends.
U.S. counts 1,600 reported Covid-19 deaths, 151,000 cases
The U.S. reported 151,571 Covid-19 cases and 1,696 deaths Monday, according to NBC News' tally.
The 220 deaths reported Tuesday morning brought the U.S. death tally to more than 400,000 people. It took five weeks for the U.S. to tally the last 100,000 deaths, it took 12 weeks to tally the 100,000 before that, and 16 weeks the 100,000 before that.
In all, more than 1.7 million people have been fully vaccinated and more than 12 million have received their first dose.
3 more Covid cases linked to Australian Open arrivals
Two players are among the three latest Covid-19 cases that have emerged from testing conducted on passengers who arrived on charter flights bringing people to Melbourne for the Australian Open.
Tournament director Craig Tiley said the players weren't considered to be contagious, though, and hadn't been taken out of the regular quarantine hotels.
The first six positive tests were reported over the weekend and connected to flights from Los Angeles, Abu Dhabi and Doha, Qatar.
All passengers on those flights, including 72 elite tennis players, were classified by local health authorities as close contacts of people infected with the coronavirus and forced into hard lockdown. That means they're not allowed to leave their hotel rooms for the mandatory 14-day quarantine period. The six infected people, including a member of the aircrew on one flight and two coaches on different flights, were transferred to a medical hotel.
The Victoria state government announced three new positive tests on Tuesday, the first to involve players.
China battles Covid-19 outbreak as vaccine rolled out in Shanghai
Around 1 in 8 people in England estimated to have Covid-19 antibodies, new data shows
An estimated 1 in 8 people in England had antibodies against the coronavirus during December, suggesting they have had Covid-19 previously, according to data released Tuesday by the Office of National Statistics.
The data showed that an estimated 12.1 percent of people aged 16 years and over in England had antibodies last month. The figures for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were lower, with 8.9 percent in Scotland, 9.8 percent in Wales and 7.8 percent in Northern Ireland.
The number of people testing positive for antibodies has been steadily rising since August when it stood at 5.5 percent. The U.K. has recorded more than 90,000 coronavirus deaths, one of the highest per-capita rates in the world.
Fed by a mutant strain of coronavirus, the pandemic gathered strength in Britain in December. The government imposed a lockdown in an effort to control the virus, with retail and schools closed, and indoor socializing not permitted.