COVID-19 updates: New Zealand imposes restrictions amid omicron outbreak
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.
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Stephen A. Smith opens up about illness: 'I didn't know if I was gonna make it'
ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith is opening up about his intense COVID-19 battle.
After Smith tested positive in December, he said he had a 103 degree fever every night.
"Woke up with chills and a pool of sweat. Headaches were massive. Coughing profusely," Smith said, according to The New York Post.
Smith said he was admitted to the hospital over New Year's with pneumonia in both lungs.
“They told me, had I not been vaccinated, I wouldn’t be here. That’s how bad it was," he said.
Smith is now back to work, but he said, "two-and-a-half, three weeks ago, I didn’t know if I was gonna make it.”
-ABC News' Will Gretsky
Disney is the parent company of ABC News and ESPN.
New York cases down 75% from early January
New York state, hit hard by the omicron surge over the holidays, is seeing COVID-19 cases down 75% from early January, state officials said.
New York reported 22,312 new cases Tuesday, according to state data. On Jan. 7, New York state recorded 90,132 daily cases.
The seven-day average of new cases is down 38.9% from the previous week and the seven-day average of hospital admissions dropped 13.6% from the previous week, according to state data.
"We hope to close the books on this winter surge soon," Gov. Kathy Hochul said Tuesday.
-ABC News' Will Gretsky
Biden administration website to order free tests goes live
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 accounts for 99.5% of new cases in US: CDC
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
Growing evidence suggests COVID surge may be receding in parts of US
Growing evidence suggests the omicron surge may be beginning to recede in the parts of the U.S. that were first hit by the variant.
Although new case rates remain high across much of the Northeast, daily totals are slowly beginning to fall. New York City reported a 17% drop and New Jersey reported a 17.6% drop in new cases over the last week. Washington, D.C., reported a nearly 25% decline and Vermont saw a nearly 22% decline in cases in the last week.
But health officials caution the latest surge has yet to peak for much of the U.S. The nation is still reporting nearly 800,000 new cases a day -- a record high and a more than eight-fold increase compared to six weeks ago.
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN on Sunday that Americans should not expect a decline in the days to come.
"This is a very difficult time during this surge. We are seeing high case numbers and hospitalization rates... we're also seeing strain in many of our hospitals around the country," Murthy said. "The next few weeks will be tough."
Nearly 1,800 Americans are dying from COVID-19 each day – an approximately 52.6% jump since Jan. 1.
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos