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.
Latest headlines:
Omicron now makes up nearly 100% of strains found in Orlando wastewater samples
The new omicron variant makes up nearly 100% of the strains found in wastewater samples in Orlando, Florida, officials said Thursday.
"It escalated rapidly," Orange County Utilities spokeswoman Sarah Lux told ABC News.
In its first test for the variant last Thursday, the department found no evidence of omicron in the community's wastewater, she said. On Saturday, it represented about 30% of the strains found in the samples, and by Tuesday, nearly 100%.
"So, we're talking about zero to nearly 100 in a matter of a week," Lux said.
All parts of the county are seeing an increasing presence of the omicron variant, she said. The southern area, home to the theme parks, has seen the highest amount of virus remnants, followed by the eastern area, which is home to the University of Central Florida.
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos
CDC committee recommends opting for Pfizer or Moderna over J&J if given choice
The CDC's advisory committee recommended Thursday that people who have a choice should get an mRNA vaccine, either Pfizer or Moderna, over the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine after a review of new CDC data on rare blood clots linked to J&J.
The vote was unanimous.
The rare blood clots are not a new safety concern and the vaccine has already become far less common in the U.S. after it was given an FDA warning label about the clotting condition. But more data that confirmed a slightly higher rate of clotting cases and deaths than was previously reported caused the CDC and FDA to take another look at the data this week.
The CDC has confirmed nine deaths and 54 cases from the severe clotting event, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia.
There could also be more cases and deaths because TSS is under-diagnosed and could be underreported, the CDC said.
The clotting is more common among women in their 30s and 40s but has been seen in adult men and women of all ages.
The experts said J&J should not be taken off the shelves and is still far more beneficial than not getting any vaccine at all.
-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett
Several Northeast states nearing peak levels
Maine and New Hampshire are now averaging more new cases than at any other point in the pandemic, while daily cases in Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island are nearing peak levels, according to federal data.
Five of those states -- Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont -- have the highest full vaccination rates in the country.
In Florida, which has been largely spared from the latest COVID-19 wave, daily cases have increased by 92% over the last two weeks, according to federal data.
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos
NYC cases have tripled in the last month
COVID-19 cases in New York City have tripled in the last month, officials warned Thursday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a six-point plan to fight the surge, including increasing testing capacity, doubling down on business inspections and distributing 1 million KN95 masks and 500,000 rapid home tests.
"We need to stop this variant," the mayor said. "This variant moves fast. We need to move a lot faster."
-ABC News' Aaron Katersky
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."