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 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.

“This is a curable disease at this point,” said Giuliani, who added that virus-related restrictions are “destroying American business.”

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.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

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

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

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

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.

Dr. Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health, said the hope is to vaccinate all health care workers statewide by early January. Getting shots to the rest of Georgia’s 10 million residents will likely take until summer.

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.

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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.

Both regions came under increased restrictions this week after the capacity of hospital intensive care units dropped below 15%. The restrictions will remain in effect for at least three weeks.

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.

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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.

The order will remain in effect until Jan. 8.

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.

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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.

Department officials before Thanksgiving warned that gatherings of more than one household would increase the spread. The state’s coronavirus dashboard indicates the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients is approaching the peak levels of last summer’s surge.

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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%.

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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.

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JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says it has called off a plan for a nighttime curfew to contain a coronavirus outbreak during the upcoming Hanukkah holiday, citing legal issues surrounding the order.

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.

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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.

Cases per day have eclipsed 200,000 on average for the first time on record, with the crisis likely to get worse because of the fallout from gatherings at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s.

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.

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

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says the vaccines will be “universal and free” and voluntary. He hopes all will be vaccinated by the end of 2021.

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.

Mexico, with a population of 126 million, has reported 1.18 million confirmed cases. Its registered at least 110,074 deaths, the fourth-highest death toll in the world.

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NEW DELHI — India officials are outlining a plan to immunize an initial 300 million people, saying some COVID-19 vaccines are likely to receive licenses in the next few weeks.

Health officials say three vaccine companies have applied for early approval for emergency use in India. The country plans to rely on its existing immunization programs, which are among the largest in the world, for the COVID-19 vaccines.

But there are challenges. Even before the pandemic, vaccine coverage for children was patchy. Health officials will need to ensure that the emphasis on coronavirus vaccines doesn’t disrupt the existing immunization programs, and more people will need to be trained to administer vaccines.

India has reported 9.7 million confirmed cases, second highest in the world. The country of 1.3 billion people has more than 140,000 confirmed deaths.

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WASHINGTON — New results on a possible COVID-19 vaccine from Oxford University and drugmaker AstraZeneca suggest it is safe and about 70% effective. Some experts say that shows it is likely to win approval.

Partial results from tests of the vaccine in the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa were published Tuesday by the medical journal Lancet.

But questions remain about how well it may help protect those over 55. That’s a key concern for a vaccine that health officials hope to rely on around the world because of its low cost, availability and ease of use.

Researchers claim the vaccine protected against disease in 62% of those given two full doses and in 90% of those initially given the half dose. However, independent experts have said the second group was too small — 2,741 people — to judge the possible value of that approach and more testing is needed.

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HONG KONG — Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says social distancing measures will be tightened as cases of the coronavirus continue to surge, with a ban on nighttime dining and more businesses ordered to close.

Lam says there will be a ban on dine-in services at restaurants after 6 p.m., and venues such as massage parlors, beauty salons and gyms will be closed temporarily. She did not specify when the measures will take effect.

Hong Kong is grappling with the latest surge of coronavirus infections, with nearly 1,200 new cases in the last two weeks after a three-month lull.

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Gaza Strip’s Hamas authorities are tightening restrictions in the Palestinian enclave to curb a surge in coronavirus infections.

The ruling militant group says it will impose total weekend curfews each Friday and Saturday starting this week. Schools and mosques were shut this week and businesses ordered to close at 6 p.m. The restrictions will ban journalists and news crews from moving during curfews.

A nighttime curfew has been in place since the first cases of local transmissions were confirmed in August. On Tuesday, the central lab resumed testing after a two-day halt due to lack of testing materials. The World Health Organization delivered enough testing kits for eight days, Gaza’s Health Ministry says.

The Palestinian territory has reported nearly 26,000 cases and 155 confirmed deaths.