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UPDATE: U.S. and ovrseas developments.

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BALTIMORE, M.D. — The COVID-19 death toll in the United States has surpassed 350,000 as experts anticipate another surge in coronavirus cases and deaths stemming from holiday gatherings over Christmas and New Year’s.

Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University shows the U.S. passed the threshold early Sunday morning. More than 20 million people in the country have been infected. The U.S. has begun using two coronavirus vaccines to protect health care workers and nursing home residents and staff but the rollout of the inoculation program has been criticized as being slow and chaotic.

Multiple states have reported a record number of cases over the past few days, including North Carolina and Arizona. Mortuary owners in hard-hit Southern California say they’re being inundated with bodies.

The U.S. by far has reported the most deaths from COVID-19 in the world, followed by Brazil, which has reported more than 195,000 deaths.

India has approved two COVID-19 vaccines, paving the way for a massive inoculation program. ....India’s drugs regulator gave an emergency authorization for the vaccines developed by Oxford University and U.K.-based drugmaker AstraZeneca and another developed by the Indian company Bharat Biotech....

Britain’s prime minister is warning of new restrictions ahead as coronavirus infections soar. On Monday, the country plans to ramp up vaccinations using the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

 -- Dr. Anthony Fauci says U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s pledge to administer 100 million shots of the coronavirus vaccine within the first 100 days of his administration is “a realistic goal.”

The top U.S. infectious disease expert tells ABC’s “This Week” says “we can do 1 million people per day. You know we’ve done massive vaccination programs ... in our history. There’s no reason why we can’t do it right now.” ..e we want to be.”

As the U.S. COVID-19 death toll tops 350,000, Fauci is taking issue with President Donald Trump’s claim on Twitter on Sunday that the number of U.S. cases and deaths is “far exaggerated” because of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “ridiculous” methodology.

Fauci says “the deaths are real deaths.” He says hospitals are running out of bed and medical workers are exhausted under the strain of caring for the sick. ...

PHOENIX — Arizona’s Gov. Doug Ducey has rejected the state’s top education official’s call for Ducey to order public schools to use only online instruction for the next two weeks unless they have waivers from health officials.

Amid a coronavirus surge in the state, Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman said Saturday that schools need a two-week “quarantine period” while educators and local officials review health data and decide what type of instruction is appropriate for their communities.

A spokesman for the governor said Ducey wouldn’t issue the order because how schools open is a local decision. ...

NEW YORK — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the state has recorded more than 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began.

New York reached that figure as it reported about 15,000 new positive tests on Friday. Experts say the official number of coronavirus cases represents a significant undercount, since many people in the New York City area were infected with the coronavirus last spring when testing was largely unavailable.

New York is the fourth state to report more than 1 million positive COVID-19 tests after California, Texas and Florida. New York reported 128 COVID-19 deaths on Friday. ...

LOS ANGELES — Southern California funeral homes are turning away bereaved families because they’re running out of space for the bodies.

The head of the California Funeral Directors Association says mortuaries are being “inundated.”...

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — The Navajo Nation has reported 266 confirmed coronavirus cases and seven more deaths.

The figures reported late Friday increased the tribe’s totals since the pandemic began to 23,429 cases and 813 confirmed deaths.

The number of infections is considered far higher than reported because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected without feeling sick. ..

 

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