COVID-19 updates: Elizabeth Warren tests positive

The senator says she's experiencing "mild symptoms."

ByMorgan Winsor, Emily Shapiro, Ivan Pereira, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: December 20, 2021, 12:51 AM EST

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 806,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 61.4% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Dec 16, 2021, 4:24 AM EST

Indonesia confirms 1st case of omicron variant

Indonesia announced Thursday its first confirmed case of the omicron variant.

The case was detected in a janitor who works at the COVID-19 Emergency Hospital of Kemayoran Athletes Village in Jakarta, according to a statement from Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

The hospital's cleaning staff are routinely tested and the results for three people were positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 10. Those samples were then sent to a genome sequencing lab, which identified the omicron variant in one of the samples on Wednesday, according to the statement.

People wearing face masks to protect against COVID-19 walk through a train station in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Dec. 16, 2021.
Tatan Syuflana/AP

Indonesia's Ministry of Health has also identified probable cases of omicron among five travelers who were in quarantine -- two Indonesian citizens who had just returned from the United Kingdom and the United States, and three foreigners from China. Their test samples are being sequenced and the results will be known in a few days, according to the statement.

The health minister urged Indonesians "not to panic and to remain calm," and to get vaccinated against COVID-19 if they haven't already.

"The arrival of new variants from abroad, which we identified in quarantine, shows that our defense system against the arrival of new variants is quite good, we need to strengthen it," Sadikin said. "So it's normal to stay 10 days in quarantine. The goal is not to make it difficult for people who came, but to protect the people of Indonesia."

Dec 15, 2021, 4:46 PM EST

Forecast: US could see up to 845,000 deaths by early January

Forecast models used by the CDC suggest weekly death totals and hospital admissions will rise over the next four weeks. 

The U.S. could reach a total of 845,000 deaths by Jan. 8, according to the forecasts from the COVID-19 Forecast Hub at UMass Amherst. 

A staffer places battery powered candles on the floor ahead of a ceremonial moment of silence for the 800,000 Americans who have died of the coronavirus in Washington, Dec. 14, 2021.
Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The COVID-19 Forecast Hub team monitors and combines forecasting models from the nation’s top researchers. They then create an ensemble, usually with a wide cone of uncertainty. Nicholas Reich, a biostatistician who runs the forecasting model, told ABC News Wednesday that he doesn't think the forecasts included omicron in their predictions because the majority of data isn't publicly available yet in a format that can be easily incorporated into a model. 

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 15, 2021, 4:20 PM EST

US cases up 45% in the last month

The U.S. is now reporting nearly 118,000 new cases each day -- up by 45% in the last month, according to federal data.

Daily COVID-19-related hospital admissions have leapt by 46% in the last month.

Maine and New Hampshire are now averaging more new cases than at any other point in the pandemic, according to federal data.

New Hampshire currently holds the nation's highest case rate, followed by Rhode Island, Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 15, 2021, 3:10 PM EST

South Africa sees new record case high

South Africa, one of the first countries to detect omicron, reported a record high of 26,976 new cases on Wednesday.

Sandile Cele, a researcher at the Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, South Africa, works on the omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus, Dec. 15, 2021.
Jerome Delay/AP

A volunteer wears personal protective equipment (PPE) at a COVID-19 drive-through vaccination facility at the Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria, South Africa, Dec. 15, 2021.
Kim Ludbrook/EPA via Shutterstock

Just 26.09% of South Africa's residents are fully vaccinated, according to Africa CDC.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou