The country's PM also postponed her wedding due to the rise in cases.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 865,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 63.3% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Biden administration's website to order four free at-home rapid tests per household is now live at covidtests.gov.
The tests won't ship for another seven to 12 days.
-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett
Omicron is estimated to account for 99.5% of new cases in the U.S. as of Saturday, according to new forecast data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday.
In early-December, omicron was estimated to account for just 0.6% of all new cases. The delta variant now accounts for only 0.5% of new U.S. cases, forecasters estimate.
These percentages are calculated using modeling and should be considered estimates, not exact figures.
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos
A Minnesota man severely ill with COVID-19 was transferred to a Texas hospital over the weekend, after his wife was granted a temporary restraining order against the Minnesota hospital where doctors informed her they would take him off a ventilator.
Scott Quiner, 55, of Buffalo, Minnesota, tested positive for COVID-19 in late October and was initially admitted to Waconia Hospital before being transferred to the intensive care unit at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids on Nov. 6, according to a GoFundMe page in support of the Quiner family and an article by the StarTribune, which was first to report the story.
A court order, issued last Thursday and obtained by ABC News, prohibited Mercy Hospital from disconnecting the ventilator that had been supporting Scott Quiner for months while his wife, Anne Quiner, searched for a new facility to continue his care. An Anoka County judge granted the order after health care providers advised Anne Quiner that they "intend[ed] to take actions on Thursday, January 13, 2022, that [would] end [her] husband’s life."
According to court documents, Anne Quiner told doctors that, as her husband’s health care proxy, she "vehemently disagree[d]" with these actions, and did not want her husband’s ventilator turned off.
Over the weekend, Scott Quiner was subsequently moved to a facility in Texas for treatment, according to the Quiner family's attorney, Marjorie J. Holsten.
"A doctor evaluated him and determined that he was severely undernourished. Scott has been receiving much-needed nourishment and hydration and medications that were not given by Mercy," Holsten told ABC News in a statement Monday. "He is being weaned off of the sedating drugs and has already been able to follow with his eyes movements the doctor made with his hands. He is making progress in the right direction, though he has a long road ahead of him and continued prayers are appreciated."
Representatives for Allina Health, which operates Mercy Hospital, said they wish the patient and his family well and have "great confidence" in their team's work.
“Allina Health has great confidence in the exceptional care provided to our patients, which is administered according to evidence-based practices by our talented and compassionate medical teams. Due to patient privacy, we cannot comment on care provided to specific patients,” the health system told ABC News in a statement Monday. "Allina Health continues to wish the patient and family well. Any information regarding the patient’s on-going care should be directed to his current medical provider."
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos
Some 2,000 hamsters and other small animals will be culled in Hong Kong amid fears over possible animal-to-human transmission of COVID-19, authorities announced Tuesday.
The move came after an employee at the Little Boss pet store in Hong Kong's Causeway Bay shopping district tested positive for the highly contagious delta variant on Monday. Further testing revealed at least 11 hamsters in the shop, imported from the Netherlands, were also infected, according to authorities.
The store has been shuttered and its hamsters, rabbits and chinchillas will all be tested and euthanized. Anyone who visited the shop since Jan. 7 is being urged to get in touch with authorities. Although officials said there is no evidence animals can transmit the virus to humans, they are not ruling out the possibility.
As a precautionary measure, authorities said they will seize all hamsters in Hong Kong's 34 licensed stores for testing before putting them down in a humane manner. Residents who purchased hamsters after Dec. 22 are being urged to hand them over to be tested and culled. The customers themselves will be subject to mandatory testing and quarantine.
Hong Kong will also cease the sale and import of small mammals, including hamsters. All shops selling hamsters in the city have been ordered to stop doing so immediately, according to authorities.
"We have assessed the risks of these batches are relatively high and therefore made the decision based on public health needs," Dr. Leung Siu-fai, director of Hong Kong's Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, told a press conference Tuesday. "We urge all pet owners to observe strict hygiene when handling their pets and cages. Do not kiss or abandon them on the streets."
-ABC News' Britt Clennett
