Omicron updates: COVID outbreak reported on cruise ship docking in New Orleans

The Minnesota Department of Health said a Minnesota resident with recent travel history to New York City has become the state's first confirmed case of the omicron variant.

The adult male lives in Hennepin County and has been vaccinated.

After experiencing mild symptoms on Nov. 22, he was tested on Nov. 24. He no longer has symptoms.

He attended an anime convention at the Javits Center in Manhattan from Nov. 19 to Nov. 21. Anime NYC said it welcomed 53,000 fans. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state is in touch with health officials in Minnesota and she encouraged any of the 53,000 attendees to get tested.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said, "we should assume there is community spread of the variant in our city."

“Since the beginning of this pandemic, Minnesota’s nation-leading genome sequencing infrastructure and strong testing network have allowed the state to quickly track the COVID-19 virus and better understand its spread. Today, those tools detected a case of the Omicron variant in Minnesota," Gov. Tim Walz said in a statement. "This news is concerning, but it is not a surprise. We know that this virus is highly infectious and moves quickly throughout the world."

Unvaccinated people in Germany will be barred from most businesses, except for grocery stores and pharmacies, officials announced Thursday.

In Germany, shops and restaurants check vaccination status at entrances.

Nearly 69% of Germans are fully vaccinated. The country has reported several cases of the omicron variant.

-ABC News'  Joe Simonetti

Required masks on public transportation, including airplanes, rails and buses, will be extended through March 18, according to a new plan from the Biden administration.

Tighter requirements for travel into the U.S. will go into place early next week, the administration said. The rule calls for proof of a negative test within one day of travel to the U.S. for all passengers, regardless of their vaccination status or nationality.

President Joe Biden also announced a plan Thursday allowing for free rapid tests.

Senior administration officials say the more than 150 million Americans with private insurance will be able to submit for reimbursement to their insurance companies through the same rule that allows tests on site to be covered by insurance. To reach uninsured Americans and those on Medicare or Medicaid, the Biden administration will send 50 million at-home tests to 20,000 federal sites around the country to be handed out for free.

The Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor and Treasury Department will put out guidance by Jan. 15 to determine exactly how many tests will be covered and at what frequency, the plan said, and it will not retroactively cover tests already purchased.

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett, Justin Gomez

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is directing airlines to provide the agency with the names and contact information of passengers who have entered the United States since Nov. 29 and had been in southern Africa the prior two weeks. Airlines must turn the information over within 24 hours of the flight's arrival into the U.S.

The directive, in effect indefinitely, applies to travelers from the Republic of Botswana, the Kingdom of Eswatini, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Malawi, the Republic of Mozambique, the Republic of Namibia, the Republic of South Africa and the Republic of Zimbabwe.

The order, which does not mention the omicron variant specifically, is to "prevent the importation and spread of a communicable disease of public health importance."

Delta and United are currently the only two carriers that offer flights between the U.S. and countries covered by the CDC order.

ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett, Sam Sweeney and Mina Kaji