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.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Dec 27, 2021, 7:23 AM EST

Israel begins testing 4th vaccine dose

Medical staffers at Tel HaShomer hospital near Tel Aviv, Israel, have begun receiving a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose. 

About 150 staffers were taking part in the trial, which began on Monday morning. They'll be monitored for a week.

A staffer at the Sheba Medical Center receives a fourth dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Dec. 27, 2021.
Tsafrir Abayov/AP

The Ministry of Health has yet to announce a final decision on a fourth jab. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office last week said on Twitter that it had instructed the government to "prepare for an extensive operation." 

"This is wonderful news that will assist us in getting through the Omicron wave that is engulfing the world," Bennett said in a statement.  

-ABC News' Bruno Nota

Dec 27, 2021, 7:27 AM EST

New York subway scales back service amid COVID surge 

Subway trains in New York City will run less frequently than usual this week amid a spike in COVID-19 cases.  

"Like everyone in New York, we've been affected by the COVID surge," New York City Transit Authority officials wrote on Twitter. 

Officials said the subway was dealing with staff shortages and service would be scaled back until Thursday. 

People exit the 42nd Street subway station at Eighth Avenue, Nov. 18, 2021, in New York City.
Gary Hershorn/Getty Images, FILE

"We’re taking proactive steps to provide the best, most consistent service we can," officials said on Twitter. "That means you may wait a little longer for your train."

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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