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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Pennsylvania nurse opens up about 'overflowing' hospital
On average, about 21,000 virus-positive Americans are being admitted to hospitals each day -- a figure that has more than doubled over the last month.
WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, has more patients now than any point in the pandemic, according to nurse Erin Hammond.
"Our emergency rooms are full to overflowing. Our critical care unit has now doubled up rooms. We're taking more patients -- sicker patients -- than we ever have before," Hammond told ABC News.
She noted that she's seen people in their 20s, 30s and 40s "ending up very sick and dying."
"It's incredibly difficult seeing patients die day after day after day," she said. And after a patient dies, the hospital must "refill their beds as quickly as they emptied."
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos
New Mexico asks state workers, National Guard to be substitute teachers
New Mexico leaders are asking state employees and National Guard members to volunteer as substitute teachers and child care workers due to "extreme staffing shortages" amid the COVID-19 case surge.
"Many schools are being forced to shift to online learning and child care facilities are being forced to temporarily close when staff members test positive," state officials said in a statement Wednesday.
Since the holidays, about 60 school districts and charter schools switched to remote learning and 75 child care centers partially or completely closed due to staffing shortages, according to the state.
"The additional staffing will allow schools to avoid the disruptive process of switching between remote and in-person learning and prevent child care programs from having to shut down," state officials said.
The volunteers would have to complete the requirements necessary to be licensed as a substitute, including a background check and an online workshop.
27 million visits so far to USPS order form from COVIDTests.gov
While it's not clear how many people have placed an order for free COVID-19 tests since the White House's site launched Tuesday, the order form on the U.S. Postal Service website -- special.usps.com/testkits -- has been visited over 27 million times so far.
This initiative from the Biden administration' allows Americans to order up to four free at-home rapid tests per household.
-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett
US deaths expected to increase after weeks of surging cases
Following weeks of increasing cases, forecast models used by the CDC suggest that U.S. death totals will likely continue to increase over the next four weeks.
The models predict about 32,000 more Americans could die from COVID-19 over just the next two weeks.
By Feb. 12, about 931,000 total lives could be lost in the U.S. to the virus.
The CDC obtains the forecasts from the COVID-19 Forecast Hub at UMass Amherst, where a team monitors and combines forecasting models from the nation’s top researchers. The team then creates an ensemble -- displayed like a hurricane forecast spaghetti plot -- usually with a wide cone of uncertainty.
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos
Italian police arrest nurse accused of faking shots for anti-vaxxers
Italian police have arrested a nurse accused of pretending to inject COVID-19 vaccines into the arms of anti-vaxxers so they could benefit from vaccination certificates.
Investigators used a hidden camera to capture the nurse working at a vaccination center in Palmero. A clip from the footage, released Saturday by Italy's State Police, purportedly shows the woman preparing a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and then emptying the syringe into a piece of gauze before pretending to inject it into an individual's arm. She faces charges of forgery and embezzlement, according to police.
Police said the woman also faked her own booster shot so she could continue working at the vaccination center, in coordination with another nurse who was arrested last December on similar charges. The other nurse is accused of faking COVID-19 vaccinations for 11 people, including a well-known leader of an anti-vaccine movement, according to police.
New restrictions came into force in Italy on Jan. 10, barring people who aren't fully vaccinated against COVID-19 from accessing restaurants, gyms, swimming pools, theaters, cinemas, sport events and public transport. Unvaccinated individuals who recently recovered from COVID-19 are exempt from the new rule, which will be in force until March 31. The measures were imposed amid a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections across the European country.