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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California reinstates mask mandate for 1 month

California is reinstating an indoor mask mandate from Dec. 15 to Jan. 15.

Half of the state is already under a mask mandate per local rules, according to California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly.

California is also tightening restrictions on unvaccinated people at large events. At events with more than 1,000 people, anyone who isn’t vaccinated must show proof of a negative antigen test within 24 hours or a negative PCR test within 48 hours.

State officials also recommend that travelers get tested three to five days before arriving in California.

-ABC News' Matt Fuhrman


164,000 new pediatric COVID-19 cases reported in US last week

Last week, another 164,000 children in the United States tested positive for COVID-19, up by 24% from the week prior, according to a report released Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.

COVID-19 cases among U.S. children are "extremely high," the organizations wrote in the report.

Last week the Northeast saw its highest number of pediatric cases since the onset of the pandemic, with nearly 40,000 new cases.

So far, 21 million children ages 5 to 17 nationwide -- about 39.6% -- have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Severe illness due to COVID-19 remains "uncommon" among children, the organizations wrote in the report. But they continue to warn that there is an urgent need to collect more data on the long-term consequences of the pandemic on kids, including the physical, emotional and mental health impacts.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos


US reaches 50 million confirmed cases

A total of 50 million COVID-19 cases have now been confirmed in the U.S., according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. has reported more cases than any other nation in the world. The U.S. currently represents nearly one-fifth of the globe's total 270.5 million cases.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos


US daily cases up 85% since October

In the weeks following Thanksgiving, the COVID-19 resurgence in the U.S. has escalated rapidly.

The U.S. is averaging more than 118,000 new cases each day -- up by about 41.8% in the last two weeks and up nearly 85% since late October, according to federal data.

Six states with some of the nation's highest vaccination rates are also among the states with the highest new case rates: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island and New York. Experts say cases could be rising in the Northeast partially due to people heading inside in the cold weather.


Daily COVID-19-related hospital admissions increased by 14.4% in the last week and jumped by 48% in the last month, according to federal data.

Pediatric admissions are up by 23.8% in the last week.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos


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."