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WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) – The United States reported 244,000 new cases of COVID-19 in a single day on Friday, setting a new grim record as the country prepares to distribute the first COVID-19 vaccine to states.
A total of 244,011 new cases and 3,013 deaths were reported nationwide on Friday, according to data updated Saturday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), setting new world records.
The new data brought the seven-day average daily case increase to a record of more than 209,000 cases, and the seven-day average daily death increase to nearly 2,400, the highest since late April.
There are currently more than 108,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States, a new all-time high since the start of the pandemic, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
Cases and hospitalizations have skyrocketed in the country recently, pushing medical centers to a breaking point and leaving healthcare personnel exhausted and under extreme pressure.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday issued authorization for the emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine from the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer in partnership with the German company BioNTech, the first COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S.
The authorization came amid one of the worst days of the pandemic for the United States, with record numbers of new cases, deaths and hospitalizations.
The emergency use authorization allows the vaccine to be distributed in the country and used in people 16 years of age or older.
The first shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will begin arriving in US states on Monday, US media quoted an official on Saturday as saying.
Shipping companies UPS and FedEx will deliver the vaccine to nearly 150 statewide locations, said Gustave Perna, director of operations for the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed.
Perna said the vaccine was scheduled to arrive Monday morning so health workers would be available to receive the vaccines and then begin administering them.
A key CDC panel met on Saturday and voted unanimously to recommend Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, according to US media reports.
CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an external group of medical experts that advises the agency, voted 11-0 to recommend the vaccine for use in people 16 years of age or older under emergency clearance from the FDA, according to a CNBC report. Final product
