COVID-19 updates: 2 cases of omicron variant confirmed in Canada, officials say

The WHO classified omicron as a "variant of concern."

ByEmily Shapiro, Morgan Winsor, Meredith Deliso, and Ayushi Agarwal
Last Updated: November 29, 2021, 4:21 AM EST

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.2 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 776,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

Just 59.1% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Here's how the new developed. All times Eastern.
Nov 25, 2021, 8:22 AM EST

Only 1 in 4 health workers in Africa are fully vaccinated: WHO

Just 27% of health workers in Africa, the world's second-largest continent, have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a preliminary analysis by the World Health Organization.

FILE PHOTO: A health worker prepares a vaccination certificate after vaccinating someone with a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in Bimbo, near Bangui, Central African Republic, on Nov. 15, 2021.
A health worker prepares a vaccination certificate after vaccinating someone with a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in Bimbo, near Bangui, Central African Republic, on Nov. 15, 2021. For the health authorities in the Central African Republic, the second-least developed country in the world, according to the United Nations, and in civil war since 2013, the challenge is as much to obtain COVID-19 vaccines as it is to convince people of its necessity, as elsewhere on the African continent.
Barbara Debout/AFP via Getty Images, File

The WHO said an analysis of data reported from 25 African nations found that, since March, only 1.3 million health workers are fully vaccinated. Just six of those countries have fully vaccinated 90% of their health workers, while nine countries have less than 40%. Meanwhile, a recent WHO global study of 22 mostly high-income nations found that over 80% of their health workers are fully vaccinated.

"The majority of Africa's health workers are still missing out on vaccines and remain dangerously exposed to severe COVID-19 infection," Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO's regional director for Africa, said in a statement Thursday. "Unless our doctors, nurses and other frontline workers get full protection we risk a blowback in the efforts to curb this disease. We must ensure our health facilities are safe working environments."

A woman receives an AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in Abuja, Nigeria, Nov 19, 2021.
Gbemiga Olamikan/AP

Nov 24, 2021, 7:11 PM EST

New Hampshire to establish 'surge centers'

Amid a record-setting COVID-19 surge, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed an executive order allowing hospitals to establish temporary acute care centers, or internal "surge centers," in an effort to increase bed capacity.

"We are seeing record levels of cases; we're seeing record levels of hospitalizations. This winter surge that we predicted is unfortunately now rearing its ugly head. We are definitely in the throes of it," Sununu said during a press conference on Tuesday.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu attends an event in Portsmouth, N.H., Oct. 16. 2020.
Rich Beauchesne/Seacoastonline via USA Today Network

The state is also working to identify whether the National Guard can play a role in supporting hospitals.

"I think the next few weeks are going to be very telling. I think it's going to be a fairly bumpy road. We just want everyone to be vaccinated. Be safe because the system right now is at an emergency point," Sununu added.

The governor made clear that this executive order is not a state of emergency.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Nov 24, 2021, 12:13 PM EST

Daily case average up 46% since October

Hospital admissions in the U.S. are up by 15% over the last two weeks, according to federal data.

In this Sept. 7, 2021, file photo, a healthcare worker tends to a patient on a ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit of Baptist Health Floyd in New Albany, Ind.
Jon Cherry/Getty Images, FILE

Ashtin Kubec, an emergency room nurse is shown at MidMichigan Medical Center, in Alma, Mich., Nov. 20, 2021.
Nik Antaya/The New York Times via Redux

These states and Washington, D.C, have seen at least a 10% increase in hospital admissions over the last week: Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.

The U.S. daily case average has jumped by more than 46% since late October, according to federal data.

The Northeast and Midwest are seeing the greatest increase in cases and hospitalizations.

In Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, case averages are up 30%.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Nov 24, 2021, 11:23 AM EST

Deaths, hospitalizations predicted to increase in weeks to come

Forecast models used by the CDC suggest that weekly deaths and hospital admissions will rise over the next four weeks -- the first increase in U.S. death rates and hospital admissions since the summer surge.

U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Jesse Van Tassell, a registered nurse assigned to Monoclonal Antibody Infusion Team Utah, adjusts a patient's intravenous fluids input data at a COVID treatment site in St. George. Utah, Nov. 12, 2021.
Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Hughes/U.S. Army

A member of the Orange County Fire Rescue unit wears a face mask to help curb the spread of COVID-19 outside an emergency room entrance at Orlando Health--Health Central Hospital on Nov. 16, 2021, in Ocoee, Fla.
Phelan M. Ebenhack via AP

Nearly 15,000 more Americans could die from COVID-19 over the next two weeks, according to the forecasts.

The CDC obtains the forecasts from the COVID-19 Forecast Hub at UMass Amherst, which monitors and combines forecasting models from the nation’s top researchers.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

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