The United Kingdom, France and Italy have all set new record highs for daily COVID-19 cases.

The U.K. recorded a record 129,471 cases in the last 24 hours, according to government data. That brings the total cases in the last week to 802,137-- a 30.3% rise from the previous week.

France recorded a record 179,807 new daily cases, according to the national public health agency Santé Publique France. This could in part be because of a lag in reporting over the Christmas weekend (an unlikely low of 30,383 cases was reported on Monday).

Italy saw a record 78,313 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. Italy also saw just 30,810 new cases on Monday following the holiday.

-ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud

The U.S. is averaging more than 206,000 new COVID-19 cases each day -- a roughly 147% jump in the last month, according to federal data.

Five states -- Florida, New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Massachusetts -- are reporting more new cases than at any other point in the pandemic, according to federal data.

Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C., have seen their case averages triple, while Louisiana, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey and New York City have seen their case averages double.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

The Biden administration has ended its travel ban on eight African countries, citing increased knowledge of omicron and improved testing requirements for international travelers.

The ban was put in place in late November amid concerns about the new variant that was first found in southern Africa.

President Joe Biden said in a proclamation Tuesday, "Scientific experts have determined that people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 are protected against severe disease and hospitalization from the Omicron variant. Moreover, the Omicron variant has now spread to more than 100 countries, and it is prevalent in the United States. At the same time, my Administration has made international travel to the United States from all countries safer."

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

The Chinese city of Xi'an has 175 of the nation's 209 new COVID-19 cases, health authorities said.

Xi'an is under lockdown, leaving highways and walkways empty.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

Dr. Anthony Fauci strongly recommended against large New Year's Eve parties at Wednesday's White House briefing.

"Should you change or cancel your plans? If your plans are to go to a 40-50 person New Year's Eve party with all the bells and whistles and everybody hugging and kissing and wishing each other a happy new year, I would strongly recommend that this year, we do not do that," Fauci said.

Fauci said "all indications point to a lesser severity of omicron versus delta." But he warned, "we should not become complacent since our hospital system could still be stressed in certain areas."

White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said, "We have directly helped more than 30 states and territories by deploying over 2,100 federal personnel and thousands of ambulances, ventilators and other critical supplies."

Supplies include gloves, masks, respirators and face shields, he said.

He added, "More than 13,000 National Guard members have been activated in 48 states to support the COVID response, from vaccinations, to testing, to clinical care."

At the briefing, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky defended the agency's shortened isolation guidelines.

"We do know the vast majority of viral transmission happens in those first five days, somewhere in the 85 to 90% range. So if a person can isolate for the first five days they absolutely should," she said. "We also don't know that antigen tests give a good indication of transmissibility at this stage of infection. On the other hand, we know that after five days people are much less likely to transmit the virus and that masking further reduces that risk. And this is why people need to mask for five days after the five days of isolation."

After five days, asymptomatic people with COVID-19 can leave isolation, but must wear masks around others, according to the new guidelines.

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett