COVID updates: Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tests positive

He said he has mild symptoms and will be quarantining for five days.

COVID updates: Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tests positive
Alex Brandon/AP
ByMary Kekatos, Ivan Pereira, Emily Shapiro, Kiara Alfonseca, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: January 3, 2022, 12:42 AM EST

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 825,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 62% 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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Dec 27, 2021, 2:58 AM EST

Australia records first omicron death, as daily cases top 10,000 

A man in his 80s who died near Sydney, Australia, was the country's first known death linked to the omicron variant, health officials said on Monday. 

"The man was a resident of the Uniting Lilian Wells aged care facility in North Parramatta, where he acquired his infection," New South Wales health officials said in a news release. "He had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and had underlying health conditions." 

The country’s new daily cases topped 10,000 on Sunday, local media reported on Monday.   

In New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, new coronavirus infections dipped to 6,324 on Sunday, down from a record 6,394 new cases on Christmas Day, according to health officials.

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