Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday that December and January could “be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation.” More than 3,100 Americans died of the coronavirus on Wednesday, more than the previous high of 2,603 set on April 15, according to Johns Hopkins University. The COVID Tracking project reported that the number of U.S. hospitalizations passed 100,000 for the first time.

Americans who choose to travel for Christmas should consider getting tested for the coronavirus a few days before leaving and after coming back, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. But the agency also repeated what it said about Thanksgiving: The best way to slow the spread of the virus is to stay home. Nearly 1.2 million Americans passed through U.S. airports on Sunday anyway.

Food has run out for nearly 100,000 refugees from Eritrea in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the United Nations said Tuesday. Fighting between the regional leaders and the federal government has cut the area off from aid for nearly a month. The conflict has displaced about 1 million people, many of whom fled to neighboring Sudan. The UN said 2 million in the region need assistance.

Moderna Inc. is asking regulators in the United States and Europe on Monday for emergency use approval for its COVID-19 vaccine, developed in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health. It reported over the weekend that final results from trials suggest its shot is 94 percent effective. Two other companies, Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, have already applied for approval of their versions of the vaccine.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, whom Israel suspected was the leader of Iran’s disbanded military nuclear program, died on Friday in an ambush outside of Tehran. The scientist led a program that the International Atomic Energy Agency linked to “activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device” through the end of 2003. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has mentioned Fakhrizadeh in conjunction with Iran’s nuclear program in the past.

Just a trickle of shoppers wandered through Macy’s on Herald Square in New York an hour after it opened. Many stores reported—or planned for—smaller crowds on Black Friday, reflecting concerns about further spread of the coronavirus. It will still likely prove the busiest shopping day of the year.

Iranian state TV announced Wednesday the government released Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a 33-year-old British-Australian academic detained in Iran for more than two years, in exchange for three Iranians held abroad. Officials in Thailand said they transferred three Iranians involved in a 2012 foiled bomb attack back to Tehran. Moore-Gilbert arrived at the airport in Canberra on Friday afternoon and will quarantine before reentering the community, said Foreign Minister Marise Payne.