People over 75, front-line essential workers should get vaccine next, CDC panel says

Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed Thursday that he still hasn't been inoculated with his country's COVID-19 vaccine because the shot is not yet permitted for people older than 60.

"For those like me, the vaccine hasn't reached us yet," Putin, 68, told reporters from the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow during his annual end-of-year press conference, which was held online due to the pandemic. "I am quite a law-abiding person, I listen to our specialists and so far haven't taken it."

However, Putin said he "definitely" will get the so-called Sputnik V vaccine once those over 60 are allowed to.

Russia controversially registered Sputnik V in August before starting crucial late-stage clinical trials, declaring itself the first country in the world to authorize a COVID-19 vaccine. The Russian government has said the trials so far show a vaccine efficacy of 91-95%.

Although key Phase 3 trials for Sputnik V are currently ongoing, the Russian government has already launched a mass vaccination program.

Putin told reporters that Russian scientists are looking into developing a "light" version of Sputnik V that would only require one dose instead of two, allowing for faster mass immunization. Putin noted the lighter version would be slightly less effective than the existing one but would produce antibodies faster.

"It will work quicker," he said. "The level of protection will be less, but all the same -- it'll get up to 85%."

ABC News' Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.

Tokyo raised its alert for medical preparedness to the highest level on Thursday for the first time, as hospital beds across Japan's bustling capital fill up with COVID-19 patients.

Following a coronavirus committee meeting, Tokyo officials raised the alert level to "red" and warned that the city's health care system was on the verge of crisis.

The move comes after 822 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Tokyo on Wednesday, the highest single-day count the city has recorded since the start of the pandemic.

Wednesday's tally shatters Tokyo's previous record of 678 new cases confirmed a day earlier, according to data released by the Tokyo metropolitan government.

ABC News' Anthony Trotter contributed to this report.

Several European leaders announced Thursday that they are going into quarantine after French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for COVID-19..

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who had lunch with Macron at the French presidential palace in Paris on Wednesday, said he is self-isolating as a preventative measure and canceling any events that require his physical presence. Costa said he also took a COVID-19 test on Thursday morning as was originally planned ahead of his now-canceled trip to Africa.

Spanish President Pedro Sanchez, who had lunch with Macron in Paris on Monday, said he will suspend all his activities and quarantine until Dec. 24

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who met with Macron in Brussels last week, said he will get tested Thursday and then self-isolate while he awaits the result.

ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud contributed to this report.

Some 885,000 workers in the United States filed for unemployment insurance last week, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday, as the pandemic continues to upend the labor market. 

This is an uptick of 23,000 from the previous week’s figure. 

More than 20 million people are still receiving some form of unemployment benefits through all programs as of the week ending Nov. 28, according to the Department of Labor. For the comparable week in 2019, that figure was 1.8 million. 

The latest economic data comes as COVID-19 cases continue to climb across the country. The U.S. hit a record high on Wednesday of 247,403 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 3,656 additional deaths from the disease. 

The latest tally of weekly unemployment claims also comes as lawmakers have struggled to reach a deal on new relief. On Wednesday, after months of stalled negotiations, a source told ABC News that congressional leaders were close to a reaching a deal that could include enhanced federal unemployment benefits.

The national unemployment rate in the U.S. was 6.7% last month, according to the Department of Labor's most-recent jobs report. In February, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. unemployment rate was 3.5%.

ABC News' Catherine Thorbecke contributed to this report.