The Latest: Hong Kong re-imposes restaurant dining bans

JACKSON, Miss. -- The number of people who have died of coronavirus complications in Mississippi surpassed 4,000 Tuesday, and health officials warned there will be more fatalities and hospitalizations if residents continue having non-essential social gatherings.

"We are seeing ongoing heavy case burdens — many, many cases, rising deaths and increasing strain on our health care system," State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said during a virtual press briefing.

Dobbs said rising cases are attributable to social gatherings — funerals, parties, sporting events — where people are not following safety guidelines.

"It's not a joke — if we would just wear a mask in public and avoid nonessential social gatherings, the universe would be an entirely different place," he said.

Mississippi, with a population of about 3 million, has reported at least 4,017 deaths from COVID-19 as of Monday evening. There have been at least 167,926 total cases of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, the health department said.

The number of coronavirus hospitalizations has peaked in recent days as numbers of new cases have surged. However, the number of intensive care unit patients has not yet reached the record highs of the summer, although most units are full, Dobb said. That's something he expects will change soon.

___

Deaths from the coronavirus in the U.S. have soared to more than 2,200 a day on average, matching the peak reached last April. The average cases per day has eclipsed 200,000 for the first time ahead of more holiday gatherings.

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration says Pfizer's vaccine is strongly protective against COVID-19 and appeared safe in the agency's initial review, setting the stage for possible approval within days in the U.S.

— Britain rolls out COVID-19 vaccine shots; 90-year-old women gets first

— Studies suggest AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine safe

— 7-year-old girl in Chicago raises money for hospital's pandemic gear

Follow AP's coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

___

HERE'S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

___

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — Gov. John Bel Edwards says Louisiana expects to quickly administer its first two weeks of coronavirus vaccine doses within 48 hours of receiving the shipments.

Edwards says Louisiana is holding weekly logistics discussions to ready for distributing and administering a vaccine and expects to receive 39,000 doses in its first shipment week and 40,000 vaccines the following week.

Louisiana's governor was the lone Democrat during the livestreamed talk that also included governors from Tennessee, Texas and Florida.

___

DENVER — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis' longtime partner was discharged from a hospital Tuesday after undergoing treatment for the new coronavirus.

First gentleman Marlon Reis was hospitalized over the weekend as a precaution after experiencing shortness of breath and a worsening cough after he was diagnosed on Nov. 28.

Polis' office said in a statement that Reis' doctors at UCHealth at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have advised him to take steroids for two days as he recovers. Reis did not require supplemental oxygen during his hospital stay.

___

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper unveiled a modified stay-at-home order on Tuesday that requires the state's roughly 10.5 million residents to remain off the streets between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.

The executive order set to take effect on Friday orders bars, restaurants, entertainment venues and personal care businesses closed by 10 p.m., though grocery chains and some retailers that sell groceries will be allowed to operate within the seven-hour window.

On-site alcohol sales at bars must end by 9 p.m.

Cooper hinted at further restrictions if spread does not slow.

The order will remain in effect until Jan. 8.

___

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The nursing home industry is suing Pennsylvania, claiming Tuesday that the state illegally withheld more than $150 million that was intended to help long-term care facilities shoulder the financial burden of the coronavirus pandemic.

The lawsuit contends the Department of Human Services is refusing to provide supplemental payments to nursing homes as required by law, depriving them of crucial funding to fight the pandemic.

The state denies the accusations.

___

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani says that he's making a rapid recovery after being diagnosed with the novel coronavirus and expects to be released from the hospital as early as Wednesday.

Giuliani calling into his own radio show on WABC in New York said he decided to go to the hospital after being urged by the president's physician. The 76-year-old former mayor of New York was admitted into Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington on Sunday. He says he has been treated with dexamethasone and remdesivir--some of the same drug treatments that Trump received when he was hospitalized with the virus in early October.

Giuliani said the experience hadn't changed his view that some Democratic-elected officials have gone too far by imposing restrictions to try to stem the spread of the virus.

Giuliani has traveled extensively to battleground states in recent weeks in an effort to help Trump subvert his election loss to Joe Biden. On numerous occasions he has met with officials for hours at a time without wearing a mask.

___

ATLANTA — Georgia should start distributing thousands of doses of coronavirus vaccine by the end of next week, though most people will have to wait several months before they can get a shot, Gov. Brian Kemp said Tuesday.

The Republican governor praised the vaccines as "a miracle of modern science that will save countless lives" in a state where COVID-19 has killed more than 9,000 people. Kemp also warned infections and hospitalizations are soaring in Georgia and the virus will remain a serious threat well into 2021.

The first doses are expected within the next 10 days and will be used to vaccinate Georgia health care workers and nursing home residents and employees. The general public will be not able to be vaccinated for months, Kemp said in a news conference streamed online from the state Capitol in Atlanta.

The number of daily confirmed and suspected coronavirus infections in Georgia soared more than 70% in the past week, and hospitals are sounding alarms about their ability to absorb new COVID-19 patients.

___

LOS ANGELES — California authorities sent a cellphone text alert Tuesday to two major regions to tell millions of people that the novel coronavirus is spreading rapidly and asking them to stay home except for essential activities.

The noon blast to the state-designated 11-county Southern California region and 12-county San Joaquin Valley region was sent by the Office of Emergency Services.

The text also urged people to wear masks and physically distance.

The regions will be eligible to emerge from the order on Dec. 28 if ICU capacity projections for the following month are above or equal to 15%, the OES said.

___

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper unveiled a modified stay-at-home order on Tuesday that requires the state's roughly 10.5 million residents to remain off the streets between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.

The executive order set to take effect on Friday orders bars, restaurants, entertainment venues and personal care businesses closed by 10 p.m. Grocery chains and some retailers that sell groceries will be allowed to operate within the seven-hour window. Bars must end on-site alcohol sales must end by 9 p.m.

Travel to and from work between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. is still permitted, as is travel to get food, gas, medical care or social services.

Cooper hinted at further restrictions if spread does not slow.

North Carolina has hit new highs in current COVID-related hospitalizations for the sixth day in a row and 11 of the last 12 days. Data posted on Tuesday from the state Department of Health and Human Services shows nearly 2,400 people are hospitalized due to coronavirus. This represents a doubling of hospitalizations over the last month.

___

PHOENIX — Arizona set a new daily record with 12,314 confirmed coronavirus cases. The Department of Health Services says it eclipses the previous record of 10,322 cases set Dec. 1. That figure was inflated by delayed reporting over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Arizona's case total increased to 378,157. The state reported 23 more deaths, increasing the confirmed total to 6,973.

___

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee will extend restrictions on businesses and social gatherings through Jan. 4 to help lessen the strain on the state's hospital system.

The current set of restrictions that took effect last month, including limiting restaurants and bars to to-go service and outdoor dining, were set to expire Dec. 14.

Inslee also announced $50 million in additional grants for businesses, on top of the $135 million in grants, loans and other assistance he announced two weeks ago to help businesses and workers impacted by the restrictions.

Restaurants were among the businesses forced to close their indoor services, including fitness facilities and gyms, bowling centers, movie theaters, museums, zoos and aquariums. Retail stores, including grocery stores, must limit their indoor capacity to 25%.

WASHINGTON — White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx says she plans to remain in government service after President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated, but it's unclear if she'll have a similar role in the administration.

Birx, speaking at a Wall Street Journal CEO's conference on Tuesday, noted she's served in every administration since President Ronald Reagan. But Birx, a career civil servant who temporarily stepped away from her job as the U.S. global AIDS coordinator to help lead the White House coronavirus response, has not heard from the Biden transition team.

Birx says she'll "be in the government. It's up to the new administration to decide if and when or how I can be utilized."

Birx was cheered by some in the medical community early in the crisis as a voice of science who used cold data to steer Trump away from his desire to rapidly open the economy. But she has faced criticism from some public health experts and Democrats for not speaking up forcefully as Trump has downplayed the virus even as it has killed more than 284,000 Americans.

___

In a statement, his office said it was searching for alternative plans to prevent public gatherings during the holiday season. The Cabinet is expected to meet Wednesday to discuss the matter.

The weeklong Hanukkah holiday, which begins at sundown Thursday, is a time when schoolchildren are on vacation and families often gather.

Israel has already imposed two lockdowns this year. Since easing the latest set of restrictions in October, the number of cases has steadily grown.

___

NEW YORK — Deaths from the coronavirus in the U.S. have soared to more than 2,200 a day on average, matching the peak reached last April.

Nearly every state is reporting surges. A vaccine appears days away from getting approval in the U.S.

Dr. Michael Ryan, the World Health Organization's chief of emergencies, says: "The epidemic in the U.S. is punishing. It's widespread. It's quite frankly shocking to see one to two persons a minute die in the U.S. -- a country with a wonderful, strong health system, amazing technological capacities."

The coronavirus has caused more than 284,000 confirmed deaths and nearly 15 million confirmed infections in the United States.

___

MEXICO CITY — Mexico plans to start vaccinations against COVID-19 near the end of December, starting with health workers.

Officials says starting in February, those over 60 will receive vaccinations, followed by those over 50 in April and over 40 in May. They urged people with risk factors to get vaccinated first.

The armed forces will distribute them to vaccination sites, initially in Mexico City and the northern border state of Coahuila.

Assistant Secretary Hugo López-Gatell says Mexico's health regulatory agency is expected to approve the vaccine on Dec. 11, a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to do so.

López-Gatell says the pace of vaccination could be accelerated as more vaccines are approved and arrive. This week, Mexico plans to sign a deal to purchase 35 million doses of the CanSino vaccine from China.