A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 75.5 million people worldwide and killed over 1.6 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.
Dec 16, 2020, 3:38 PM EST
Twitter to remove misleading information on vaccines
Twitter said that starting next week, the company will “prioritize the removal of the most harmful misleading information, and during the coming weeks, begin to label Tweets that contain potentially misleading information about the vaccines.”
An empty syringe lies on a table at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after a care worker received the COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 16, 2020, in Westwood, Calif.
Brian van der Brug/Pool via Getty Images
Beginning early next year, the company said it may “label or place a warning on Tweets that advance unsubstantiated rumors, disputed claims, as well as incomplete or out-of-context information about vaccines.”
Dec 16, 2020, 1:22 PM EST
FDA authorizes Abbott’s BinaxNOW rapid test for home use
Abbott has received FDA emergency use authorization for at-home use of its BinaxNOW rapid test, which it says can deliver “results in minutes.”
The credit card-sized $25 test -- the lowest available price for at-home testing -- will become highly available in 2021, Abbott said.
Until now, the test (which requires a prescription) was available in limited quantities and needed to be performed by a trained medical professional.
Thirty million tests should be available in the first quarter of 2021 and another 90 million in the second quarter.
ABC News’ Eric Strauss contributed to this report.
Dec 16, 2020, 12:44 PM EST
Florida woman becomes one of 1st nursing home residents in US to get vaccine
Cynthia Mayes, 70, became one of the first nursing home residents in the nation to receive the Pfizer vaccine Wednesday morning.
Cynthia Mayes, 70, receives a shot of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine at ManorCare Health Services in Palm Harbor, Fla., Dec. 16, 2020.
Courtesy Promedica Senior Care
Mayes was first of 288 residents and staff at ManorCare Health Services in Palm Harbor (part of ProMedica) to get the shot.
“This is a bad virus -- you are stupid not to get [vaccinated],” Mayes said, according to the facility.
“It’s like Christmas morning,” said Dr. Mark Gloth, the chief medical officer for ProMedica Senior Care.
When the Florida National Guard carried in the box containing the vaccine, Gloth said the nursing home staff erupted in spontaneous cheers and applause.
ABC News’ Matthew Mosk contributed to this report.
Dec 16, 2020, 11:34 AM EST
US saw 1 COVID-19 death every 30 seconds over last 24 hours
The United States registered 3,019 deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday, which is approximately one fatality recorded every 30 seconds over the 24-hour reporting period, according to an ABC News analysis of data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
Over the past month, the country's seven-day average of daily deaths from the disease has more than doubled, according to an ABC News analysis of data compiled by The COVID Tracking Project. There were just five days where fewer than 1,000 COVID-19 fatalities were reported nationwide. In the last seven days, the country has reported 17,292 COVID-19 deaths -- a new weekly record.
A doctor touches the back of a COVID-19 patient while listening to his lungs through a stethoscope at Scotland County Hospital in Memphis, Missouri, on Nov. 24, 2020.
Jeff Roberson/AP
More than 112,000 people in the United States are currently hospitalized for COVID-19 -- more than ever before. The figure is nearly double the country's previous peaks from April and July.
Meanwhile, the country's seven-day average of daily cases is nearing 209,000 -- more than three times the average from July, and more than six times the average in April.
ABC News' Brian Hartman and Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
