January 5 coronavirus pandemic and Omicron variant news

Colorado’s seven-day average positivity rate is above 25%, the highest since the start of the pandemic, according to health officials.

When introducing a slide showing the data during a news conference, state epidemiologist Rachel Herlihy said, “You can see our percent positivity data. This is the percentage of tests that are being reported to Public Health that come back positive. Specifically, this data looks at PCR based tests or molecular tests.”

Colorado is estimated to be on day 18 of the Covid-19 surge, according to Herlihy, and it will take several more weeks before a clear peak in hospitalizations is seen. 

“We have seen a rapid increase in the number of hospitalizations here in Colorado,” she said. “But, while we see case numbers that are unlike anything we’ve seen previously, we see percent positivity values that are higher than we have seen previously, we are not seeing that same trend, at least at this point, in our hospitalization numbers.” 

There are “lots of unknowns” about what hospitalizations may look like over the next couple of weeks, according to Herlihy. 

“There is a variety of reasons that are really leading to challenges in trying to predict what hospitalization numbers might look like,” she said. “It’s difficult to really predict precisely what could happen in the next couple of weeks.”

Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving has taken the floor to play for the first time in this NBA regular season this evening in Indianapolis, Indiana, against the Pacers.

Irving, who previously has said is unvaccinated against Covid-19, missed the team’s first 35 games this season. 

In September, the NBA warned the Nets as well as the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors that Covid-19 policies set by local governments prohibit any unvaccinated player from playing in home games in New York City and San Francisco. 

In October, Nets general manager Sean Marks had said Irving “will not play or practice with the team until he is eligible to be a full participant.”

On Dec. 17, the Nets reversed course, announcing they would be bringing back Irving in a part-time role “for games and practices in which he is eligible to participate,” at the time citing players missing games due to injuries and health and safety protocols when making that decision.

California’s mask mandate for indoor public places will remain in effect until at least mid-February, health officials announced Wednesday.

The mandate to wear face coverings at indoor locations was reinstated in California on Dec. 15 as the Omicron variant began to take hold in the state.

Health officials will be eyeing hospitalizations as a metric to drop the mandate, but don’t have a specific number as a goal and will rather look at the big picture of Covid’s current status as well as predictive models to make their decision.

Ghaly urged the public to ensure that masks are high-quality, well-fitted and have a good seal around the nose and mouth. Double masking is also an acceptable approach.

Though he encouraged the use of surgical grade masks, Ghaly said there is no plan to mandate the use of N95 or KN95 masks, even in schools. Health officials are instead focused on amplifying and educating people on best practices and suggest parents get their kids into better-fitting masks if necessary.

Every variant of Covid-19 “teaches us to continue to be humble in the face of a fast-moving, sneaky infection that mutates rapidly throughout different parts of the globe,” Ghaly said.

Revellers participate in the Carnival group "Bloco Tarado Ni Você" parade on March 2, 2019, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. 

More than 600 organizations behind Carnival in the city of Sao Paulo announced they were canceling events in the city due to a lack of guarantees around health conditions, according to a statement published by CNN’s affiliate CNN Brasil.

The organizers, called blocos de rua, accused local authorities on Wednesday of not inviting them to discuss how to maintain the traditional street parades in a safe way, and for that reason, they announced all events were canceled.

Several other cities in Brazil, including Rio de Janeiro, have already announced total or partial cancellation of Carnival due to a surge in Covid-19 cases.

On Wednesday: Brazil reported 27,267 new Covid-19 cases and 129 new deaths due to the virus, according to the country’s National Council of Health Secretaries.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 13-1 Wednesday in favor of expanding the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine booster recommendation to include people ages 12 to 17.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky must sign off on the recommendation for it to take effect.

The advisers made the recommendation after hearing research on rare cases of myocarditis and pericarditis in young people who have gotten Covid-19 vaccines and noting that many parents are concerned about long-term side effects of vaccines.

They also considered that vaccine uptake among 12- to 17-year-olds has slowed recently and weighed the record numbers of Covid-19 cases in children amid a surge of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

On Monday: The FDA expanded the emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine boosters to children ages 12 to 15.

The CDC signed off Tuesday on shortening the booster interval from six months to five months for people who got the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. It has also been recommended that moderately or severely immunocompromised 5- to 11-year-olds receive an additional primary dose 28 days after their second shot; only the Pfizer/BioNTech shot is authorized for that age group.

Canada will provide 140 million rapid tests for residents this month, weeks after more than 80 million tests were delivered to provinces and territories in December, officials announced.

The tests will be distributed on a per capita basis in each territory and province, Canada’s Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos said.

In addition to tests, Trudeau announced that there are enough vaccines for every Canadian to get their vaccine shot. 

“It’s about all of us doing our part to make sure that through this Omicron wave, we do not overwhelm our healthcare system,” Trudeau said. 

More than 40% of children ages 5-11 have received one dose, Duclos said, adding that there are enough vaccines for those who are eligible for both doses. 

And with booster shots rolling out across Canada, Duclos said there have been 7 million shots given to date. 

“January 2022 is not March 2020,” Duclos said. “We have made significant progress and we’re continuing to add resources and tools to help protect and support Canadians.” 

As of Jan. 4, there have been 284,893 Covid-19 cases in the past seven days. 

New York City’s hospital beds, both including Covid-19 and all non-Covid-19 patients, are currently around 80% full and that rate has been fairly stable over the past month, City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said Wednesday.

Chokshi said while he does expect hospitalizations to increase in the coming days, the city’s Covid-19 hospitalization rate remains less than half of what it was during its peak in spring 2020. Additionally, even as Covid-19-related hospitalizations are increasing, non-Covid-19 admissions are generally not increasing and are, in some cases, declining, making for a stable citywide hospital bed capacity rate, Chokshi said.

Chokshi also noted that while there has been a steep increase in Covid-19 cases, the city has seen a “leveling off” in recent days. It’s too early to know if the pattern is significant or simply due to holiday testing schedules, Chokshi said.

However, the city’s health commissioner noted that despite the availability of beds, New York City’s hospitals remain “under some degree of strain” due to staffing shortages, stating it was “vital to surge resources” into the city’s healthcare system.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams answered that call on Wednesday by announcing millions of dollars of new funding to the city’s hospitals and public health system. He also pledged to expand staffing in the city’s health department.

Organizers of the Grammy Awards, scheduled for later this month, have postponed the event, citing the current Covid-19 surge.

“After careful consideration and analysis with city and state officials, health and safety experts, the artist community and our many partners, the Recording Academy and CBS have postponed the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards Show,” CBS and the Recording Academy announced in a statement.

A teenage boy receives a dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in Barcelona, on December 22, 2021.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is meeting today to discuss and vote on whether to recommend Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine boosters for people ages 12 to 15.

It’s not clear what time the vote will take place, but it’s scheduled to follow two presentations and a discussion that begins at 3 p.m. ET.

On Monday, ahead of today’s CDC meeting, the US Food and Drug Administration expanded the emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine boosters to children ages 12 to 15.

Adolescents ages 12 to 15 became eligible to receive their initial series of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in mid-May, opening vaccinations up to about 17 million additional people.

Now, about half of the 12 to 15 population — about 8.7 million — is fully vaccinated, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 5 million of them have been fully vaccinated for more than five months and are now eligible to receive a booster shot.

England will scrap the need for double-vaccinated travelers to present a negative pre-departure Covid PCR test upon arrival starting at 4 a.m. local time on Friday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Wednesday.

“We will be scrapping the pre-departure test, which discourages many from traveling for fear of being trapped overseas and incurring significant extra expense,” he told lawmakers in Parliament.

People will also no longer need to self-isolate on arrival until taking another PCR test, Johnson said.

Those arriving in England will only need to take a lateral flow test by the end of day two in the country. Anyone testing positive from a lateral flow test will need to take a PCR test to assist in identifying “any new variants at the border.”

Take-home COVID-19 testing kits are displayed on a Manhattan drugstore shelves on December 22, 2021 in New York City. 

When the federal government buys 500 million at-home Covid-19 tests to send to Americans later this month, it won’t cut in to the number of tests available on pharmacy shelves, the Biden administration said on Wednesday. 

Zients said that in September 2021, the US was producing fewer than 50 million rapid tests per month. Now, more than 200 million are being produced each month.

“But, with all the companies that have now been authorized,” he continued, “there’s the capacity for the US government to purchase the 500 million now and not disrupt or in any way cannibalize the tests that are on pharmacy shelves and on websites and used in other settings.” 

Overall, Zients said, the country is making “significant progress” in getting those tests. He reiterated that yesterday the public contracting process closed, as White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during her press briefing Tuesday, and added that the deliveries of tests should start “over the next week or so.”

Current studies examining a Covid-19 vaccine for children under 5 may produce data in the first half of 2022, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday.

“Hopefully, towards the earlier part of the first half, we may have some information so that we can vaccinate children of that age,” Fauci said during a White House Covid-19 Response Team briefing.

Currently, no vaccine is authorized for children under 5 in the United States. Children ages 5-17 are authorized to receive a series of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine.

A woman receives her Covid-19 vaccination at a pop-up clinic in the international arrivals area of Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California, on December 22, 2021. 

As the Biden administration recommends Americans to receive a Covid-19 booster shot, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently has no plans to change its definition of “fully vaccinated,” the White House said – a change that had previously been widely expected. 

“Someone is considered fully vaccinated if they receive their primary series of vaccines. … That has not changed and we do not have any plans to change that,” White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said Wednesday.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky reiterated that individuals are “considered fully vaccinated against Covid-19 if they’ve received their primary series,” and “that definition is not changing.”

Walensky urged those who have had a primary series of vaccination to “stay up to date with additional doses that they are eligible for” based on which vaccine they received and what age group they are in.

The CDC’s definition of fully vaccinated depends on someone’s age.

“For children 5 years though 17 years of age, a primary series consists of 2 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine,” the agency says.

And for adults over 18 years of age, a primary series consists of “a 2-dose series of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna), or a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine (Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine).”

Last month, as the Omicron variant began to spread, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN’s Kate Bolduan that it is “going to be a matter of when, not if,” the definition would change to include a third dose. 

An Israeli health worker administers a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine at the Maccabi Health Service in Jerusalem on August 20, 2021 when Israel launched its campaign to give booster shots to people aged over 40, in a bid to stem spiking infections driven by the Delta variant. 

Getting a booster shot decreases Covid-19 mortality by 90% compared to being fully vaccinated, according to data highlighted Wednesday by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

During a White House coronavirus briefing, Walensky shared data on booster dose efficacy from studies conducted in Israel while the Delta variant was dominant.

The data Walensky presented indicated that a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine:

“While these studies were done when Delta was the dominant variant in Israel, we expect to see a similar trend of increased protection over those who are boosted with Omicron,” Walensky said.

Less than 1% of students in the New York City public school system were out with cases of Covid-19 as of Tuesday evening after receiving positive results on tests that were mostly taken last week, according to data from the city’s Department of Education released Wednesday.

Eighty-five percent of the 8,743 positive student cases were identified before or during winter break, when the district encouraged testing, the department said. 

In-school PCR testing as part of the city’s new effort to double surveillance began when classes resumed on Monday, according to a DOE spokesman, and results are expected as early as today. The school system has also been handing out rapid tests to students since classes resumed, the spokesman said.

The total number of confirmed cases amounts to nearly 22% of all registered positive cases in the school system since classes began in September.

No schools or classrooms are currently closed in the public system, according to city data. 

The Biden administration is opening additional federally run free Covid-19 testing sites in six states across the country as the Omicron variant continues to surge in the US.

 “We have the tools we need to manage the surge in Omicron cases,” White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters during Wednesday’s briefing, citing vaccinations and boosters, funding from the Covid relief package to help schools implement prevention measures, and federal support for treatment and prevention.

The Biden administration, Zients said, “is deploying every available measure to help states communities and hospitals confront this Omicron challenge. Military doctors, nurses and EMTs are now in place assisting local hospital staff and states across the country, with additional teams ready to deploy as needed.”

Zients said that additional new testing sites would be “opening soon” in Maine, Maryland, Nevada, Delaware, Texas and Washington state.

A White House official told CNN Wednesday that 13,546 National Guard personnel are currently deployed to support Covid-19 efforts, including approximately 700 medical personnel.

The administration has shipped 2.4 million pieces of personal protective equipment in the last two weeks, Zients added.

He also touted Covid treatments, including President Biden’s announcement that the federal government is working with Pfizer to accelerate delivery of its antiviral pill. 

“The coming weeks are going to be challenging,” Zients said, echoing comments from Biden on Tuesday that cases will continue to rise.

Volunteers explain how to use a rapid at-home Covid-19 test in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on December 17, 2021. 

The US Food and Drug Administration cautioned against using self-collected throat swabs for Covid-19 tests, saying that people should use the tests as they are authorized. 

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that most self-tests require nasal specimen collection, although there are a few that require a saliva specimen. 

The CDC also says that people performing self-tests should follow instructions exactly, cautioning that if specimens aren’t collected as directed, test results may be inaccurate. 

In December, the FDA said that quick antigen home tests may be less sensitive to picking up the Omicron variant, but health officials said that they are still a useful tool.

U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger testifies during a Senate Rules and Administration Committee oversight hearing on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, in Washington.

The US Capitol Police department has been “hit hard” by Covid-19, US Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said as he testified before the Senate ahead of the one-year anniversary of the deadly Jan. 6 riot.

Over 70% of the staff is vaccinated, he added.

A sign is seen on the fence outside of Lowell elementary school on January 5 in Chicago, Illinois. Classes at all of Chicago public schools have been canceled today by the school district after the teacher's union voted to return to virtual learning, citing unsafe conditions in the schools as the Omicron variant continues to spread.

The Chicago Teachers Union tweeted Wednesday they are “being inundated with calls and emails this morning from educators who attempted to log into their platforms to connect with their students” but “are being locked out by Mayor [Lori] Lightfoot.”

The district canceled classes for more than 340,000 students Wednesday after the teachers union voted Tuesday night to refuse to show up for in-person work, citing concerns over Covid-19 safety.

While Chicago Public Schools did not specifically confirm that they had locked teachers out of their remote platforms, the district reiterated to CNN Wednesday morning that “the vote was a work stoppage.”

Additionally, the district said Tuesday night that CTU members that do not report to school Wednesday won’t be paid. The school district said they expect to update the plan for resuming learning to families and students by the end of Wednesday.

Earlier this morning, CTU President Jesse Sharkey said educators want to teach, and “we are prepared to do that remotely starting today.”

Sharkey said the city has “failed to deliver a whole number of basic demands that we need in the schools, has failed to provide adequate staffing, adequate cleaning in the schools, has failed to provide adequate testing, has failed to address our concerns as people going to the schools.”

CNN’s Carma Hassan contributed to this post.

Healthcare workers wearing personal protective equipment are seen inside a makeshift facility created inside a sports complex, amidst the spread of coronavirus cases, in New Delhi, India on January 5, 2022.

The cities of Mumbai and New Delhi have collectively recorded at least 25,831 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, according to officials.

On Tuesday evening, both cities had recorded a total of 16,341 new cases.

Delhi currently has a positivity rate of 11.88% with 10,665 new cases.

The positivity rate is the percentage of people who test positive for the virus of those overall who have been tested.

India recorded its first death due to the Omicron variant Wednesday. According to the health ministry, the individual had diabetes and other pre-existing conditions and was confirmed to have contracted the Omicron variant.

The Mumbai municipal corporation confirmed Wednesday that 15,166 new cases were recorded in the city in the past 24 hours. The city currently has more than 61,000 active cases.

India is expected to start administering booster shots on Jan. 10 to health care workers, frontline workers and people above the age of 60 years with pre-existing medical conditions.

 Shoppers walk along Oxford Street on December 24, 2021 in London, England.

An estimated 1 in 15 people across England tested positive for Covid-19 in the week ending Dec. 31, 2021, the Office for National Statistics reported Wednesday, up from 1 in 25 the week before. 

This is around 3,270,800 people, with London having the highest percentage of cases at a rate of 1 in 10, according to the data.

Infections increased “rapidly” across the UK, with Omicron as the dominant variant, according to the ONS. Scotland and Wales recorded 1 in 20 people with Covid-19 and Northern Ireland recorded 1 in 25.   

The statistics account for infections occurring in private households and exclude infections reported in hospitals, care homes and other communal establishments, the ONS noted.

Passengers board a Eurostar train at St Pancras International station in London on December 17, 2021.

France will widen the list of “compelling reasons” required for travel between the UK and France, easing travel between the two countries, French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal told journalists Wednesday.

At the moment, travelers cannot go for merely tourist reasons.

This new widening would impact professional travel across the Channel, Attal said, without providing additional details.  

He added that the Defense Council had agreed to discuss a wider loosening of border restrictions with the UK at the council’s next meeting. Those meetings are typically held weekly.

Omicron will be the dominant variant in a few days, the German Health Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday.

“At the moment, we believe Omicron has a share of 25% throughout Germany,” Spokesperson Sebastian Guelde warned.

He noted the variant was already dominant in Northern Germany, and said: “We have reason to believe that shortly, in a few days, Omicron will actually be the dominant variant nationwide.”

A pharmacist prepares a children's dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic on Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021, in Lawrence, Mass.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is scheduled to meet Wednesday.

The meeting follows Monday’s announcement by the US Food and Drug Administration that the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine was expanded to include boosters for adolescents ages 12 to 15.

They also reduced the time between completing an initial series and recommended booster from six months to five months, and allowing for a third dose of the primary series for some immunocompromised children ages 5 to 11.

The CDC’s vaccine advisers are scheduled to meet from 1 to 5 p.m. ET Wednesday.

Detroit Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, talks Thursday, April 23, 2020 in Detroit about the initiative to give about 51,000 K-12 public school students in Detroit computer tablets and high-speed internet to help transition from classroom to virtual learning during the coronavirus pandemic.

Public schools in Detroit are extending a virtual return to winter break through next week as the city’s Covid-19 infection rate continues to climb.

Schools had returned from the holidays online Monday and were set to shift back to in-person on Thursday under an original plan. Now, they will stay virtual through Jan. 14, according to a statement from superintendent Nikolai Vitti that was posted on the district’s website.

In remarks published by WDIV, Vitti said that opening schools while the city has a 40% infection rate is an “operational nightmare” for the district.

Pepijn Lijnders assistant manager of Liverpool during a training session at AXA Training Centre on November 01, 2021 in Kirkby, England.

English Premier League club Liverpool has temporarily closed its training ground amid a “rapidly growing number of suspected positive Covid-19 cases,” the team said Wednesday.

Liverpool confirmed “multiple” suspected new cases among players and staff had been reported. Assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders returned a suspected positive Covid-19 case and is now isolating.

Lijnders was in charge of the team during Sunday’s 2-2 Premier League draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Manager Jürgen Klopp was isolating after he had returned a suspected positive test. 

The announcement comes just a day before Liverpool are due to face Arsenal away in the first leg of their English League Cup semifinal encounter.

Liverpool on Tuesday lodged an application with the English Football League to reschedule Thursday’s match. The outcome is still pending.

Andrzej Duda poses as he arrives for a working lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on October 27, 2021.

Poland President Andrzej Duda has tested positive for Covid-19 and is self-isolating, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday.

This is the second time Duda, who is 49 years old, has caught the virus. He also tested positive in October 2020.

The president is fully vaccinated and received a third vaccine dose last month, according to the official website of the presidency.

“The president is fine, has no severe symptoms and is under constant medical care,” Secretary of State Paweł Szrot tweeted on Wednesday.  

The latest government data in Poland shows 17,196 cases recorded across the country on Wednesday, with 632 deaths.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, at Chicago Police headquarters.

The Chicago Teachers Union voted late Tuesday night to move to virtual instruction as the city sees a Covid-19 surge, triggering the cancellation of classes Wednesday that the school district warned would happen. 

The school district — the third-largest in the country — called it an “unfortunate decision” in communication sent out to all Chicago Public Schools families. 

Chicago Public Schools had resumed in-person learning Monday and has said its conditions are safe for in-person instruction.   

The passing union vote means members would refuse in-person work until Jan. 18 or until the two sides are able to reach an agreement. 

Additionally, teachers will not be compensated for refusing to report in person, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez announced at a press conference late Tuesday. 

CPS additionally says it considers this move a “work stoppage” and any CTU members that do not report to school Wednesday won’t be paid. The school district said it will update the plan for resuming learning to families and students by the end of Wednesday. 

Arthur Caplan, the director of medical ethics at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine, said more Americans need to get vaccinated to win the fight against Covid-19.

Caplan said that it’s important to honor those who are taking actions to help their neighbors and communities by getting vaccinated.

While Caplan said he’s willing to condemn, blame and shame those who refuse to get the Covid-19 vaccine, they will eventually need to be part of the solution.

Labour leader Keir Starmer delivers a keynote speech outlining his party's vision for 2022, on January 4, 2022 in Birmingham, England.

Keir Starmer, the leader of the UK’s Labour party, is pulling out of Wednesday’s key session of Prime Minister’s Questions after he tested positive for Covid-19.

A press officer for the UK Labour Party told CNN Wednesday that this is the second time Starmer has had the virus. 

The party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, is now set to question UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the House of Commons. She is expected to ask Johnson’s about his comments Tuesday that England will have to “ride out this Omicron wave.”

Johnson has, so far, declined to put in place lockdown-like measures to curb the record daily case numbers for fear of the economic effects of another shutdown or similar restrictions.

“We can keep our schools and businesses open and we can find a way to live with this virus,” Johnson said.

Students of Northwestern Polytechnical University line up to receive Covid-19 nucleic acid tests on December 29, 2021 in Xi'an, China.

A woman who was eight months pregnant was allegedly turned away from a hospital in the Chinese city of Xi’an because she didn’t have a valid Covid-19 test, according to a social media post from a user who said she is the woman’s niece.

In a video posted to Chinese social media platform Weibo on January 3, the woman can be seen sitting outside the hospital with a pool of blood around her feet. The author of the post said the woman’s Covid test result had expired as it was over 4 hours old, and she was left to bleed while sitting outside the hospital.

The woman was finally admitted after several hours, but eventually suffered a miscarriage, said the post, which was shared widely on Chinese social media.

A staff member from Xi’an Gaoxin Hospital told CNN they were investigating the incident. The hospital employee said the woman was initially turned away in accordance with the government’s Covid-19 regulations, but declined to comment further.

An official from the local Women’s Federation told CNN that it is aware of this incident and is closely monitoring it.

The president of the hospital told state media that the woman is recovering from surgery and the local health commission is investigating the incident. 

CNN has reached out to the author of the post and the local government for comment but has not heard back.

The Africa Cup of Nations trophy seen during the 2019 final between Senegal and Algeria in Egypt.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) will limit attendance at the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations because of Covid-19.

The CAF said in a statement Tuesday that capacity will be capped at 60% for all matches except those involving host nation Cameroon, which will be capped at 80%.

All spectators must be fully vaccinated and present a negative test result before entering one of the six stadiums being used for the tournament.

Several teams have reported positive Covid-19 cases ahead of the tournament, including favorites Algeria, Ivory Coast and Morocco.

Africa’s showpiece football event begins on Sunday with Cameroon facing Burkina Faso at the Olembe stadium in Yaoundé. The 24-team tournament will take place in five cities across the country.

Members of the public wait in line outside a community vaccination center administering the BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine imported by Fosun Pharma in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, January 4, 2022. More Hong Kong residents are getting their first shots against Covid-19 as a cluster of omicron infections grows and an expansion of the vaccine mandate looms.

Hong Kong’s government is forcing business to close and banning in-restaurant dining after identifying a single untraceable case of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

However, in the last 24 hours, Hong Kong authorities have found several community cases that raised concerns over possible hidden transmission chains, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said. Lam said it was uncertain how many chains might exist at the moment, but that a fifth wave of cases was “imminent.”

To stop the potential spread of the virus, authorities will ban indoor dining starting at 6 p.m. Friday. Gyms, movie theaters, museums, swimming pools, bars and clubs will also be closed, and cruises have been suspended. 

The measures will be reviewed in seven days, Lam said.

Lam said the city will also ban flights from eight countries for two weeks starting Saturday. Those countries – Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, Philippines, the United States and the United Kingdom – have all seen recent spikes in Covid-19 cases.

Hong Kong, along with mainland China, is one of the few places in the world still pursuing a zero-Covid policy. The city’s priority is reopening borders with the mainland, not the rest of the world, Hong Kong authorities have said.

While those policies have kept the population safe from the virus, they have taken a toll on the financial capital’s economy and the mental well-being of residents. Those who are allowed to return to Hong Kong must spend as long as three weeks quarantining in a hotel room at their own expense, and anyone who contracts the virus must stay in the hospital until they test negative.

Health workers inside the Commonwealth Games Village Sports Complex, which has been temporarily converted into Covid-19 care center, in New Delhi on January 5, 2022.

At least 145 healthcare workers have tested positive for Covid-19 in just two hospitals in the Indian capital of New Delhi.

At the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, at least 80 doctors have tested positive, according to Dr. Jaswant Jangra, secretary of the hospital’s Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA). Jangra added that the number of patients hospitalized with Covid symptoms rose from 12 last week to 60, but the majority are being advised to isolate at home.

In Ram Manohar Lohiya, a government-run hospital, at least 65 healthcare workers, including doctors and nurses have also tested positive, according to Dr. Furquan Ahmed, from the hospital’s RDA.

Ahmed said most of the cases “are mild to moderate” and don’t require hospitalization, but the situation is “taxing.”

Medical professionals are concerned that the number of doctors and nurses testing positive could lead to critical staff shortages. The Indian Medical Association had warned that a delay in allocating newly deployed doctors to hospitals had led to a shortage of 45,000 doctors on the frontline.

“In my department alone, 11 doctors have tested positive,” Ahmed said. “Because the new batch of doctors hasn’t come in there is a shortage, so definitely we will be understaffed if admissions rise.”

Delhi reported 5,481 new cases Tuesday evening, the highest single day rise in cases since May 16 last year, according to local health bulletins.

The Indian Health Ministry said Wednesday 2,135 cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in the country since December 2. The ministry said last week that while Delta remains the dominant variant, Omicron was likely the driver of a recent uptick in cases.

The cruise ship "Spectrum of the Seas," shown docked at a terminal in Hong Kong on January 5, 2022, after it was ordered to return to the city for coronavirus testing.

More than 3,000 cruise ship passengers and staff are being held on a cruise ship after a Covid scare on board on Wednesday. 

The Royal Caribbean-owned vessel “Spectrum of the Seas” was ordered to return to port in Hong Kong for compulsory coronavirus testing after nine passengers were identified as close contacts of a preliminarily positive case. 

Royal Caribbean said on Facebook they were informed of the close contacts on board on Tuesday and immediately isolated them from the rest of the passengers. 

All nine people identified as close contacts to the preliminarily positive case have tested negative so far.

Mass quarantine order: All 2,500 passengers and 1,200 crew members were also ordered to undergo testing once back at port onboard the ship.

Royal Caribbean said it had taken all the precautions including requiring eligible passengers and crew to be fully vaccinated, to file a health declaration and to test negative within 48 hours of boarding. Children ineligible for the vaccine must also show a negative test and fill out a health declaration.

Hong Kong reported its first case of Omicron last week after going nearly three months without any local cases. 

Royal Caribbean’s “cruise to nowhere” trips, which sail around the South China Sea before returning to Hong Kong, have been popular in the city which enforces some of the strictest border control measures in the world.

This post has been updated with more details about the incident, including Covid testing.

dKarl Lauterbach (SPD), Federal Minister of Health, takes part in the video conference of the German government's expert council on the Corona pandemic in Berlin, Germany on 4 January 2022.

Germany is reporting sharply increased coronavirus infections following the Christmas holidays.

The national agency for disease control and prevention, the Robert Koch Institute, reported a seven-day incidence rate of 258.6 infections per 100,000 inhabitants – up from last Wednesday’s 205.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. 

The number of daily infections reported on Wednesday was 58,912. Last Wednesday, that number was 18,869. 

Another 346 people were killed by Covid in Germany. At least 112,925 people have died in the country after contracting the coronavirus.

The Robert Koch Institute warned that not all numbers may have been reported over the holidays.

The vaccination rate in Germany is increasing, albeit slower than authorities would like, as the country lags behind its European neighbors. As of Wednesday, 71.3% of Germany’s eligible population had been fully vaccinated.

Medical workers in protective suits collect swabs from residents during a citywide nucleic acid testing following cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China, January 5, 2022.

Nearly a dozen neighborhoods in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, in central Henan province, went into lockdown after a number of Covid-19 cases were reported. 

On Tuesday, Henan reported four symptomatic Covid cases and 22 asymptomatic cases, according to China’s National Health Commission (NHC).

Residents in neighborhoods under lockdown are banned from leaving their homes except for mass testing. Schools in those areas have been suspended and residents are prohibited from leaving the city except for essential travel. 

The city, home to 12 million people, also began a round of mass testing on Wednesday. 

Mahjong rooms, funerals and family gatherings were found to be the source of three transmission chains, local authorities announced on Tuesday, according to the state-sanctioned tabloid the Global Times.

China on Tuesday reported 41 locally confirmed Covid-19 cases and 22 locally transmitted asymptomatic cases, according to the NHC.

A health worker inoculates a student with a dose of the Covaxin vaccine against the Covid-19 coronavirus during a vaccination drive for youths of the 15-18 group age at a Government High School in Bangalore on January 4, 2022.

India on Wednesday reported the highest single-day rise in coronavirus cases since June 20 last year, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Health Ministry. 

The country reported 58,097 new infections — a 55% increase on the previous day, which saw 37,379 cases, the Health Ministry said.

On Tuesday, the southern state of Karnataka became the second to impose a weekend curfew where all activities except essential services will be shut on Saturday and Sunday. Earlier in the day, the national capital territory of Delhi was the first to impose such restrictions. 

“Data shows us that cases are doubling every 2 to 3 days in Karnataka!” K. Sudhakar, Karnataka’s health minister tweeted. Earlier, Delhi’s health minister told reporters the Omicron variant constituted the majority of new cases in the capital.

Political rallies: At least 15 of India’s 28 states and eight union territories have some restrictions to curb the spread of the virus. However, politicians have continued to hold large gatherings with thousands in attendance ahead of elections in five states in early 2022.

No national restrictions on political gatherings have been put in place so far.

On Monday, India began vaccinating children ages 15 to 18. As of Tuesday evening, a total of 8,145,038 vaccine doses had been administered to children, according to the Health Ministry. 

India has so far reported 35,018,358 Covid-19 cases and 482,551 deaths.

Revellers take part in the street carnival parade of the bloco Calcinhas Belicas at the XV Square in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on January 5, 2019, during the unofficial opening of the 2020 Carnival.

Rio de Janeiro has canceled its world-famous Carnival street parades due to a surge in Covid-19 cases, the city’s mayor Eduardo Paes said Tuesday during a YouTube live stream. 

“We had a meeting today with the people from the “blocos” (organized street parties), and we informed them that the street carnival, which didn’t take place in 2021, cannot happen this year due to the epidemiological data that we have,” Paes said.

The Sapucaí carnival — the parade performed by Rio’s samba schools and which people watch from the stands of the Marques de Sapucaí Sambadrome stadium — would still take place in accordance with health protocols, he added. 

On Tuesday, Brazil’s Health Ministry reported 18,759 new Covid cases and 175 deaths.

People in protective suits stand guard at an entrance of a residential compound in Xi'an on January 5.

Authorities in the Chinese city of Xi’an — which has locked down its 13 million residents for the past two weeks — said they could begin easing the tight restrictions if the city reaches “zero community Covid.”

That means when confirmed coronavirus cases are only identified in government-designated centralized quarantine facilities.

In order to reduce community transmission, Chen said authorities have transported groups of people “with certain transmission risks” to government quarantine facilities.

In a news conference Monday, Xi’an authorities said the city has transferred nearly 40,000 people to the quarantine centers.

Videos circulating online showing large groups of people being transported to the sites with poor facilities have sparked further criticism.

“If there are no people in the neighborhood, surely there is no community transmission there,” another Weibo user commented.

Daily cases: Xi’an confirmed 35 new locally transmitted cases on Tuesday, a significant drop compared to the 95 infections reported Monday, according to the National Health Commission. It brings total cases linked to the outbreak to 1,793 since it began December 9.

Not enough food: Residents have continued to voice concerns on Chinese social media about not getting enough food, daily necessities and not receiving urgent medical attention. The hashtag “Grocery shopping in Xi’an is difficult” had been viewed more than 430 million times on Weibo as of Wednesday morning.

Xi’an has faced China’s worst Covid-19 outbreak since Wuhan. It has been under lockdown since December 23, and further tightened measures that restricted residents from leaving home unless permitted for mass testing.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance on the recommended Covid-19 isolation period Tuesday, telling people that if they have access to a Covid-19 test and want to take it, the best approach is to use a rapid test toward the end of their five-day isolation period.

The agency has faced pressure over the past week from outside medical experts to include a testing component in its new shortened isolation period.

The updated recommendations do not advise a test for isolated people, but they offer guidance on how those people should respond to a test result if they choose to take one:

The CDC says the changes aim to “focus on the period when a person is most infectious. … These updated recommendations also facilitate individual social and well-being needs, return to work, and maintenance of critical infrastructure.”

Read more about the updated guidance:

Related article CDC updates Covid-19 isolation recommendations with guidance on testing

rsident Joe Biden on Tuesday said the federal government is doubling the US’ order for Pfizer’s Covid-19 antiviral pill, Paxlovid, which has been shown to reduce hospitalizations and severe illness significantly.

Biden had announced a purchase of 10 million courses late last year.

The President also cautioned during his remarks that “we may need even more. That’s the estimate we need right now.”

The first batch of the pills, he said, were shipped out on Christmas Eve “and more will be shipped this week.”

But despite the additional purchase, it will take months to ramp up supply of Pfizer’s antiviral treatment. And with forecasts indicating the Omicron surge could peak this month, this could mean the vast majority of courses arrive at a time when the variant is on the decline.