COVID-19 updates: Elizabeth Warren tests positive

The senator says she's experiencing "mild symptoms."

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 806,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 61.4% 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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White House: Unvaccinated are 'looking at a winter of severe illness and death'

White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients warned Friday that the unvaccinated are "looking at a winter of severe illness and death -- for yourselves, your families and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm."

CDC director Rochelle Walensky said she expects omicron to become the dominant variant in the coming weeks.

Asked whether the CDC will change its guidance on vaccinated people quarantining after exposure, which they currently don't have to, Walensky said, "We are actively following the science in that area, with regard to how the viral burden is both among vaccinated people and unvaccinated people, and the natural history of that viral burden with regard to isolation."

"And as that science emerges, we will update our evidence if need be," she said.

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett


UK reports highest daily cases ever

The United Kingdom reported 93,045 new cases in the last 24 hours, breaking a daily record for the third day in a row.

The total number of cases over the last week now stands at 477,229, a 38.6% increase from the previous week.

-ABC News' Guy Davies


Rockettes canceled due to breakthrough cases

Friday's four Radio City Rockettes shows have been canceled due to breakthrough COVID-19 cases in the New York City production.

Plans for future shows haven't been determined.

-ABC News' Aaron Katersky


CDC studies find schools can test kids rather than quarantine 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday endorsed a practice in schools called “test-to-stay,” which allows unvaccinated kids and staff to test instead of quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19.

The CDC says the practice can be employed in addition to other mitigation measures, such as vaccination and at least 3-feet of physical distance among students wearing masks.

The new guidance follows two studies out of Los Angeles County, California, and Lake County, Illinois. Both studies found no significant transmission in school when test-to-stay was used.

The studies were conducted before the omicron variant was detected in the U.S.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty


Indonesia confirms 1st case of omicron variant

Indonesia announced Thursday its first confirmed case of the omicron variant.

The case was detected in a janitor who works at the COVID-19 Emergency Hospital of Kemayoran Athletes Village in Jakarta, according to a statement from Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

The hospital's cleaning staff are routinely tested and the results for three people were positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 10. Those samples were then sent to a genome sequencing lab, which identified the omicron variant in one of the samples on Wednesday, according to the statement.

Indonesia's Ministry of Health has also identified probable cases of omicron among five travelers who were in quarantine -- two Indonesian citizens who had just returned from the United Kingdom and the United States, and three foreigners from China. Their test samples are being sequenced and the results will be known in a few days, according to the statement.

The health minister urged Indonesians "not to panic and to remain calm," and to get vaccinated against COVID-19 if they haven't already.

"The arrival of new variants from abroad, which we identified in quarantine, shows that our defense system against the arrival of new variants is quite good, we need to strengthen it," Sadikin said. "So it's normal to stay 10 days in quarantine. The goal is not to make it difficult for people who came, but to protect the people of Indonesia."