Coronavirus updates: Moderna vaccinations set to begin today. New York Gov. Cuomo urges banon flights from UK; 317K US deaths

Coronavirus updates: Moderna vaccinations set to begin Monday; New York Gov. Cuomo urges feds to ban flights from UK; 317K US deaths President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, will be vaccinated Monday. Canada announces ban on travel from U.K. 317K U.S. deaths. Latest COVID news. Jessica Flores and Ryan W. Miller USA TODAY

In the headlines: 

► Immunizations using the nation's second COVID-19 vaccine, developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health, are expected to begin Monday, three days after the Food and Drug Administration authorized its emergency rollout.

► New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is urging federal officials to ban flights from the U.K. or require passengers get COVID-19 tests as a growing list of European Union nations has done so to prevent the spread of an infectious variant of the coronavirus. France, Germany, Italy and others announced travel restrictions hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson canceled Christmas shopping and gatherings. Canada also banned travel from the U.K.

► Medical experts say COVID-19 vaccines likely will be just as effective against the new strain of the coronavirus in the U.K. as vaccine makers routinely take mutations into account. Melissa Nolan, an infectious disease expert at the University of South Carolina, told USA TODAY, "These changes in the viral composition are expected." Vivek Murthy, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for surgeon general, made similar comments on "Meet the Press" on Sunday.

► The European Medicines Agency on Monday recommended conditional approval of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech, clearing the way for the EU executive to rubber stamp the approval Monday evening.

► More than three out of five states have had their deadliest week of the pandemic just this month, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins data shows. California alone has reported about 10 deaths every hour and set a new record for deaths in the seven-day period ending Sunday.

► California Gov. Gavin Newsom will quarantine for 10 days after one of his staffers tested positive for COVID-19, his office said. Newsom and others have tested negative since the staff member received the positive result Sunday afternoon.

► Hawaii's rural island of Kauai had only 61 confirmed coronavirus cases from March through September because of aggressive measures in place. Once the state launched a pre-travel testing program in October to revive the economy, Kauai went from having no infections at all in early October to at least 84 new cases in seven weeks and the island's first COVID-19 death.

► President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, will get vaccinated Monday, Biden's office said. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, will receive their doses the following week.

► While acknowledging Tennessee as "ground zero for a surge in sickness," Gov. Bill Lee on Sunday night tightened statewide restrictions on social gatherings for the next 30 days but stopped short of a mask mandate. The state ranked No. 1 in the country for COVID-19 infections in the past week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adjusted for population. ...

Today's numbers: The U.S. has more than 17.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 317,600 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 76.9 million cases and almost 1.7 million deaths.