The virus variant is "significantly more contagious" than the SARS-CoV-2 virus, state health officials say. So far, there is no evidence that the B.1.1.7 variant causes more severe illness or increased risk of death.

COVID-19 vaccines are reaching more long-term facilities, but many worry they won't come soon enough to stave off more deaths.

Agency officials said reducing the number of doses creates a potential for harm in patients because "they may assume that they are fully protected when they are not" and may "take unnecessary risks."

"He'd formed this belief they were unsafe," prosecutors said Monday. They also disclosed that colleagues of the now-fired pharmacist, Steven Brandenburg, reported he had twice taken a gun to work.

A new and more transmissible variant is threatening to overwhelm England's health care system, the prime minister said.

Hospital officials in San Jose are investigating whether an inflatable costume contributed to an emergency department outbreak. One hospital employee died after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Beijing says it has vaccinated more than 73,000 people in the two days since China's first domestic coronavirus vaccine was approved for commercial use.

Health care workers are bracing for a deadly January, and President-elect Joe Biden cautioned that "the next few weeks and months are going to be very tough."

The massive party attracted some 2,500 revelers and began New Year's Eve in spite of a curfew and ban on large gatherings. Authorities say three officers were injured trying to shut down the event.

In less than two months, the country doubled its total number of infections, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

For many people this year, navigating grief from personal losses, like breakups and miscarriages, amid the drama of the pandemic has felt ... awkward. Here, stories of coping amid collective grief.

The now-fired hospital employee later said he knew "that people who received the vaccinations would think they had been vaccinated against the virus when in fact they were not," investigators said.

"The individual is a male in his 20s with no history of travel. The Department is working with the CDC on this investigation," Florida Department of Health officials announced Thursday.

As the city's hospitals reach a breaking point, Mayor Eric Garcetti says Los Angeles needs more vaccine doses as soon as possible: "We can go as fast as you give us those vaccines."

Israel aims to vaccinate 25% of its citizens by end of January but the country has not provided any to the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, which are scrambling for shots.