'Steady increase' in vaccines in past month, White House says

The U.S. saw its largest single-day increase in nearly nine months Friday.

The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

More than 613,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.2 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 57.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC on Tuesday, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission -- vaccinated or not -- wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.


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'Steady increase' in vaccines in past month, White House says

The number of vaccinations has been increasing since the week of July 5, White House COVID-19 data director Cyrus Shahpar announced Sunday.


'Things are going to get worse' with COVID, Fauci warns

The nation's top infectious disease expert is warning that "things will get worse" in the pandemic as the rate of COVID-19 cases continues to surge.

Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during an interview on “This Week” that while he does not believe the pandemic is worsening to the point where lockdowns will be necessary again, "We are seeing an outbreak of the unvaccinated," based on the seven-day average, which "has gone up substantially."

"From the standpoint of illness, hospitalization, suffering and death, the unvaccinated are much more vulnerable because the vaccinated are protected from severe illness, for the most part, but when you look at the country as a whole. And getting us back to normal, the unvaccinated, by not being vaccinated, are allowing the propagation and the spread of the outbreak which ultimately impacts everybody," Fauci said.

Read more here.

-ABC News’ Molly Nagle


Israel to offer 3rd COVID-19 booster shot to older citizens: Reports

Israel's ministry of health has instructed that a third dose of vaccine should be administered to those over 60, beginning Sunday, Aug. 1, Israeli media is reporting.

The third jab will be given to those who have received the second dose at least five months ago. People who have recovered from COVID-19 will not be given the third dose.

Israel's prime minister and the minister of health are expected to speak on this Sunday morning.

ABC News' Bruno Nota

US reports another huge single-day increase in cases

The United States has reported over 100,000 new COVID-19 cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were 101,171 new COVID-19 cases reported to the CDC on July 30.

The last time the U.S. saw over 100,000 cases reported in a single day was nearly six months ago on Feb. 6.

On Friday, the CDC reported that the U.S. saw 86,000 cases in the previous 24 hours. That total had been the largest since Feb. 12, as the country began to come out of the surge seen in late December 2020 and early January.

Officials have said the delta variant is driving the increase in cases and continue to push the unvaccinated to get the shot.