COVID-19 updates: Elizabeth Warren tests positive

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

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, 2:47 PM EST

NYC cases have tripled in the last month

COVID-19 cases in New York City have tripled in the last month, officials warned Thursday.

People line up for PCR and Rapid Antigen COVID-19 coronavirus tests on Wall Street in the Financial District in New York on Dec. 16, 2021.
Ted Shaffrey/AP

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a six-point plan to fight the surge, including increasing testing capacity, doubling down on business inspections and distributing 1 million KN95 masks and 500,000 rapid home tests.

"We need to stop this variant," the mayor said. "This variant moves fast. We need to move a lot faster."

-ABC News' Aaron Katersky

Dec 16, 2021, 8:04 AM EST

Omicron will be dominant variant in US 'very soon,' Fauci says

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading expert on infectious diseases, warned Thursday that omicron will become the dominant variant of the novel coronavirus in the United States "very soon."

"It has an extraordinary ability to transmit efficiently and spread," Fauci, the chief medical advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden, told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an interview on "Good Morning America."

"It has what we call a doubling time of about three days and if you do the math on that, if you have just a couple of percentage of the isolates being omicron, very soon it's going to be the dominant variant," he explained. "We've seen that in South Africa, we're seeing it in the U.K. and I'm absolutely certain that's what we're going to be seeing here relatively soon."

Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, urged Americans to "absolutely" get vaccinated against COVID-19, if they haven't already, and to also receive a booster shot when they become eligible.

"At this point, we don't believe you need an omicron-specific boost," he added. "We just need to get the boost with what you got originally for the primary vaccination."

Dr. Anthony Fauci shares the latest information about the fast-growing omicron variant as COVID-19 cases continue to rise heading into the holidays.
3:41

Fauci talks importance of boosters as omicron variant grows in US

Dr. Anthony Fauci shares the latest information about the fast-growing omicron variant as COVID-19 cases continue to rise heading into the holidays.
ABCNews.com

Dec 16, 2021, 6:14 AM EST

France to ban non-essential travel with UK over omicron surge

France announced Thursday that it will ban non-essential travel to and from the United Kingdom due to the country's surge in cases of the omicron variant.

Starting Saturday, France will require people to have "a compelling reason" to travel between the two countries. Travel for tourism or work will not be allowed. French citizens, however, can return to France, according to a statement from the French prime minister's office.

All travelers from the U.K. will be required to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken less than 24 hours before departure. Upon arrival in France, they must self-isolate for a week, but that period can be ended after 48 hours if they test negative for COVID-19 again.

Passengers walk in the departures area of Terminal 2 at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy-en-France, northeast of Paris, France, on Dec. 2, 2021.
Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters

The new rules apply to people regardless of their vaccination status.

"Faced with the extremely rapid spread of the Omicron variant in the United Kingdom, the Government has chosen to reinstate the need for an essential reason for travel from and to the United Kingdom, and to strengthen the requirement for tests on departure and arrival," the French prime minister's office said in the statement Thursday. "The Government is also calling on travelers who had planned to visit the United Kingdom to postpone their trip."

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."