Virus' spread prompts new restrictions

Los Angeles is telling its 10 million residents to stay home "as much as possible'', and San Francisco is imposing a nightly curfew on its 900,000 residents as coronavirus cases surge in both cities, while the overall number in the US has hit more than 13.3 million.

In California, daily case numbers have set records in recent days. Hospitalizations statewide have increased more than 80 percent in the last two weeks.

As of Sunday, 13,324,707 Americans had contracted the coronavirus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, and 266,534 have died of COVID-19.

The number of coronavirus cases in the US for November surpassed 4 million on Saturday, more than double the record of 1.9 million cases set in October. Forty-four states have set weekly case records, and 25 states have set weekly death records in November.

While Los Angeles and San Francisco are imposing new restrictions, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday that public schools will begin to reopen on Dec 7 for students in elementary grades whose parents agree to a weekly testing regimen for the novel coronavirus.

Students can return only if they have already signed up for in-person learning, meaning fewer than 335,000 of the city's schoolchildren, or roughly a third, are even eligible.

The mayor closed the school system, the largest in the country, with 1.1 million children, on Nov 19 after the city overall passed a 3 percent positive-coronavirus testing threshold that had been agreed upon with the teacher's union as part of the original school-reopening plan.

He said Sunday that while the city's latest rolling average is 3.9 percent, he is partly reopening schools because "we have so much proof now how safe schools can be" amid the contagion.

The president of the United Federation of Teachers said in a statement that the labor union supported the phased reopening so long as "stringent testing was in place".

"I think that's the right direction," Governor Andrew Cuomo said of the mayor's announcement. Health experts say schools "should be kept open whenever it's possible to keep them open safely", he said.

Cuomo also said Sunday that the state recorded its highest number of positive cases since May — up 4.27 percent on Saturday from 3.9 percent the day before. The state last hit 4.2 percent on May 20.

"This is a new phase for COVID," the governor said on a conference call. "You want to call it the winter phase. You want to call it the holiday phase. You want to call it the surge-upon-surge phase. That's where we are."

Los Angeles County, the nation's most populous, announced new restrictions on Friday that take effect Monday and run through Dec 20. The public health department order came as the county confirmed 24 new deaths and 4,544 new confirmed coronavirus cases.

The order bans people from gathering with others who aren't in their households, whether publicly or privately, except for church services and protests, "which are constitutionally protected rights", the public health department said in a statement. The restrictions stop short of a full shutdown of retail stores and other nonessential businesses. It advises residents to stay home "as much as possible" and to wear a face covering when they go out.

Last week, LA County officials said that if the five-day average of cases exceeded 4,500 cases, or if hospitalizations reached more than 2,000 a day, it would trigger a new set of restrictions. On Friday, another 4,544 cases were reported, and the five-day average exceeded the limit, so the restrictions were implemented.

On Sunday, San Francisco started shutting down many indoor activities. The closures include movie theaters, gyms and fitness centers, as well as museums, aquariums and zoos. Houses of worship also will be required to close. A 10 pm-to-5 am curfew includes all dining, nonessential retail and outdoor gatherings until Dec 21.

On Saturday afternoon, residents received a text message alert warning of a "rapid increase in SF Covid cases". On Twitter, Mayor London Breed called the increase in cases "the most aggressive surge SF has seen to date". The mayor said the city is averaging 118 new cases a day compared with 73 a day in the first week of November.

On Tuesday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a group established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will meet to vote on how a coronavirus vaccine will be given out when one has been approved. The government almost always follows the panel's advice.

Scientific advisers of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold a public meeting Dec 10 to review a request by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech to allow emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Moderna Inc is expected to also seek emergency use of its vaccine soon.

Agencies contributed to this story.