U.S. coronavirus cases crossed the 15 million mark on Dec. 8 as regulators moved a step closer to approving a Covid-19 vaccine and Britain started inoculating people, offering hope of slowing a pandemic that killed 15,000 Americans in the previous week.

The United States lost 15,000 people to Covid-19 during the week ended Dec. 6, the deadliest seven days since April, and health officials warned that the worst is yet to come.

AstraZeneca Plc will likely get results of the company’s U.S. Covid-19 vaccine trial in late January 2021 and could potentially file for an emergency authorization, the chief adviser for the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed program said.

Healthcare workers and others recommended for the first Covid-19 inoculations could start getting shots within 24 hours after the vaccine receives regulatory authorization, the chief adviser for the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed program said.

The United States recorded 10,000 coronavirus deaths and more than 1.1 million new cases for the week ended Nov. 29, although state and health officials said the Thanksgiving holiday likely caused numbers to be under-reported.

Nearly all social gatherings of individuals from more than a single household will be banned in Los Angeles County for at least three weeks starting Nov. 30 under new restrictions unveiled by local health officials, citing a continued surge in Covid-19 infections.

U.S. health officials and politicians pleaded with Americans to stay at home over the Thanksgiving holiday and abide by constraints placed on social and economic life as record coronavirus caseloads pushed hospitals to their limits.

Governments and officials are voicing hopes that Covid-19 vaccines could bring “herd immunity”, with some calculating that immunizing just two-thirds of a population could halt the pandemic disease and help protect whole communities or nations.

The United States surpassed 170,000 coronavirus deaths, according to a Reuters tally, as health officials express concerns over Covid-19 complicating the fall flu season.

(Reuters) – Any potential COVID-19 vaccine backed by the Trump administration’s “Operation Warp Speed” program is unlikely to receive a green light from regulators any earlier than November or December, […]