COVID-19 updates: LA has highest daily death total since April
There are over 4,300 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Los Angeles County.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 849,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 62.9% 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:
- LA has 66 COVID deaths in 1 day, highest daily death total since April
- Cloth masks provide 'least protection,' CDC says
- Free test website to launch Wednesday
- Hospitalizations and pediatric hospitalizations at all-time highs
- Over 200 scientists, doctors sign letter in support of Fauci
- Biden: White House now trying to acquire 1 billion tests
Feds buy more monoclonal treatment that fights omicron
The U.S. government is buying 600,000 more doses of sotrovimab, the only the monoclonal antibody treatment expected to hold up against omicron, according to the drug makers, GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology.
These doses are set to be delivered to the government over the next two months, the drug makers said.
This brings total sotrovimab doses purchased by the federal government to approximately 1 million.
Short supply of sotrovimab has been a growing concern for the White House as omicron spreads.
Until recently the government had not invested in buying bulk stock of sotrovimab, as it has with other monoclonal treatments. The government spent billions buying Regeneron and Eli Lilly's products to ensure there would be enough supply, but both of those may not hold up against omicron.
-ABC News' Sasha Pezenik
Florida sees over 126,000 cases in 1 weekend
Florida reported 126,704 new COVID-19 cases this weekend, ABC Miami affiliate WPLG reported, citing CDC data.
Orlando opened a new testing site Monday at Camping World Stadium.
United cuts flights, 3,000 employees out with COVID-19
About 3,000 United Airlines workers currently have COVID-19, though none are in the hospital, the airline said.
On one recent day, one-third of all United Airlines employees at Newark Airport called in sick, the airline said.
United CEO Scott Kirby said the airline is cutting its near-term flight schedule to ensure they have enough staffing.
Kirby added that, prior to the vaccine requirement, United had one employee die each week from COVID-19.
-ABC News' Sam Sweeney
3 cities, 20 million people under lockdown in China
Some 20 million people across three Chinese cities are now under lockdown due to COVID-19 outbreaks.
Anyang, home to 5.5 million people, was the latest city to lock down its residents after discovering two cases of the fast-spreading omicron variant. Another 13 million people are under lock down in Xi'ian and 1.1 million in Yuzhou, with both cities still battling the highly contagious delta variant. Neither has reported any cases of omicron.
Meanwhile, restrictions have been imposed in the port city of Tianjin, about 80 miles southeast of Beijing, which is to host the 2022 Winter Olympics next month. The city's 14 million people are being tested for COVID-19 after two locally transmitted cases of omicron were detected over the weekend -- the first for mainland China.
-ABC News' Karson Yiu
More than 15 million new cases reported globally last week
More than 15 million new COVID-19 cases were reported globally last week, according to the World Health Organization.
"By far the most cases reported in a single week, and we know this is an underestimate," WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday.
He said this "huge spike" is driven by omicron.
"While omicron causes less severe disease than delta, it remains a dangerous virus, particularly for those who are unvaccinated," Tedros warned.
WHO officials said new vaccines may be needed for different variants, and until those vaccines are developed, the current vaccines may need to be updated.
-ABC News' Christine Theodorou