Novel coronavirus

WATCH: Biden mourns 500,000 dead from COVID-19 in White House ceremony

By Zeke Miller, Associated Press

A president whose own life has been marked by family tragedy, Biden spoke in deeply personal terms, referencing his own losses as he tried to comfort the huge number of Americans whose lives have been forever changed by the pandemic.

WATCH: White House COVID-19 response team holds briefing

By Associated Press

Dr. Anthony Fauci is calling the United States’ approaching milestone of half a million deaths from the coronavirus as “terribly historic” and stressed the need for continuing public health measures.

U.S. coronavirus death toll approaches milestone of 500,000

By John Raby, Associated Press

A year into the pandemic, the running total of lives lost was about 498,000 — roughly the population of Kansas City, Missouri, and just shy of the size of Atlanta. The figure compiled by Johns Hopkins University surpasses the number…

How this artist visualized the scale of human loss to COVID-19

By Maea Lenei Buhre

When visualizing the scope of the mass loss to the coronavirus pandemic, Maryland artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg said to "not lose sight of the value of the individual."…

WATCH: Biden defends progress on COVID-19 as weather delays 6 million shots

By Zeke Miller, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press

While acknowledging the weather is "slowing up the distribution," Biden said at the Pfizer plant in Michigan that he believes "we'll be approaching normalcy by the end of this year."…

U.K. COVID-19 infections falling as govt mulls easing lockdown

By Pan Pylas, Associated Press

Clear evidence has emerged that the rate of coronavirus infections across the U.K. is falling sharply just days before British Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlines a roadmap for potentially easing lockdown restrictions in England.

Experts warn against COVID-19 variants as states reopen

By Marion Renault, Associated Press

Scientists widely agree that the U.S. simply doesn’t have enough of a handle on the variants to roll back public health measures and is at risk of fumbling yet another phase of the pandemic.

U.S. jobless claims jump to 861,000 as layoffs stay high

By Christopher Rugaber, Associated Press

The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid rose last week to 861,000, evidence that layoffs remain painfully high despite a steady drop in the number of confirmed viral infections.

COVID-19 has already cut U.S. life expectancy by a year. For Black Americans, it's worse

By Laura Santhanam

Communities of color have suffered disproportionately throughout the pandemic, and these latest federal data further illustrate the magnitude of those disparities.

Power outages linger for millions as another icy storm looms

By Paul J. Weber, Jill Bleed, Associated Press

The latest storm front was expected to bring more hardship, especially to states that are unaccustomed to such frigid weather — parts of Texas, Arkansas and the Lower Mississippi Valley.