A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 94.2 million people worldwide and killed over 2 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
There has been a nationwide decrease in the seven-day averages for tests, cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
Many states are reporting a decrease in the number of new cases per million people, though California, Virginia and South Caroline reported more than 1,000 new cases per million Sunday.
Along with the states that do not regularly report on Sunday, Washington reported data system issues over the weekend. There will be some disruptions to reporting expected on Monday due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
States reported 1.8 million tests, 186,000 cases, 124,387 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19, and 2,044 deaths on Sunday, according to the COVID tracking project.
-ABC News Darren Reynolds
The number of patients entering hospitals in the U.K. every day is showcasing the dire situation as the new variant of the COVID-19 virus that originated there continues to spread.
Sir Simon Stevens, Chief Executive of England’s NHS, announced Sunday that "every thirty seconds across England another patient is being admitted to hospital with coronavirus."
Hospitals and staff are under “extreme pressure,” Stevens said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also announced Sunday that the vaccine was being administered at a rate of "140 jabs a minute."
-ABC News’ Zoe Magee
The state of California is poised to surpass 3 million positive COVID-19 cases within two days, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.
On Sunday, the state health department reported 42,229 new cases and 432 new deaths.
Los Angeles County, the hardest hit in the state, surpassed 1 million cases on Saturday. Dodger Stadium, the largest vaccination site in the country, reopened on Friday, but officials told ABC News they only have enough doses to last until Wednesday.
ABC News’ Matthew Fuhrman and Zohreen Shah contributed to this report.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is urging the federal government to send more COVID-19 vaccines to the state as the variant that originated in the U.K. continues to spread.
Nearly 14,000 positive tests were reported Sunday, with 18 known cases of the variant and an infection rate of 5.6%, Cuomo announced.
While 7 million New York residents are currently eligible to receive the vaccine, the federal government sent less vaccines than what was expected, he added.
"We have the weapon that will win this war and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but how fast we get there depends upon two things-our own individual actions and the federal supply, which is where we are facing the greatest challenge," Cuomo said in a statement.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the federal government will no longer hold back COVID-19 vaccine doses and is now recommending states inoculate anyone 65 and older as well as those under the age of 65 who have two or more conditions or illnesses.
"This is just a staging and moving to the next phase on the vaccine program. We've had so much success with quality and predictable manufacturing and almost flawless distribution of the vaccine, but we have seen now that the administration in the states has been too narrowly focused," Azar told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview Tuesday on Good Morning America.
"So, what are we doing? Three things. First, We have already made available every dose of vaccine," he said. "So we had been holding back second doses as a safety stock. We now believe that our manufacturing is predictable enough that we can ensure second doses are available for people from ongoing production. So everything is now available to our states and our health care providers."
"Second, we are calling on our governors to now vaccinate people age 65 and over and under age 65 with a comorbidity, because we have got to expand the group," he continued. "We've already distributed more vaccine than we have health care workers and people in nursing homes."
"Third, we've got to get more channels of administration," he added. "We've got to get it to pharmacies, get it to community health centers, and we are here and we will deploy teams to support states doing mass vaccination efforts if they wish to do so. It has been overly hospitalized so far in too many states."
As of 9 a.m. ET on Monday, more than 25 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been distributed nationwide but fewer than 9 million people have received their first dose, according to data provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
