COVID updates: Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tests positive
He said he has mild symptoms and will be quarantining for five days.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 825,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 62% 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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New record highs in UK, France, Italy
The United Kingdom, France and Italy have all set new record highs for daily COVID-19 cases.
The U.K. recorded a record 129,471 cases in the last 24 hours, according to government data. That brings the total cases in the last week to 802,137-- a 30.3% rise from the previous week.
France recorded a record 179,807 new daily cases, according to the national public health agency Santé Publique France. This could in part be because of a lag in reporting over the Christmas weekend (an unlikely low of 30,383 cases was reported on Monday).
Italy saw a record 78,313 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. Italy also saw just 30,810 new cases on Monday following the holiday.
-ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud
5 states seeing more cases than any other point in pandemic
The U.S. is averaging more than 206,000 new COVID-19 cases each day -- a roughly 147% jump in the last month, according to federal data.
Five states -- Florida, New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Massachusetts -- are reporting more new cases than at any other point in the pandemic, according to federal data.
Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C., have seen their case averages triple, while Louisiana, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey and New York City have seen their case averages double.
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos
Biden ends travel restrictions on 8 African countries
The Biden administration has ended its travel ban on eight African countries, citing increased knowledge of omicron and improved testing requirements for international travelers.
The ban was put in place in late November amid concerns about the new variant that was first found in southern Africa.
President Joe Biden said in a proclamation Tuesday, "Scientific experts have determined that people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 are protected against severe disease and hospitalization from the Omicron variant. Moreover, the Omicron variant has now spread to more than 100 countries, and it is prevalent in the United States. At the same time, my Administration has made international travel to the United States from all countries safer."
-ABC News' Allison Pecorin
Chinese city on lockdown
The Chinese city of Xi'an has 175 of the nation's 209 new COVID-19 cases, health authorities said.
Xi'an is under lockdown, leaving highways and walkways empty.
-ABC News' Christine Theodorou
Secretary of Education says students should be in classrooms despite omicron variant
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said Thursday that students should be back in classrooms after winter break despite the surge of the highly transmissible omicron variant.
"If you're fully staffed to provide a safe school environment, students should be in the classroom full-time, every day," he told "Good Morning America's" Whit Johnson.
"We've done this before. We did it before vaccines were available. If you recall, we re-opened schools this year right at the height of the delta variant," Cardona said.
Several school districts across the country said they will require negative tests from students before they can enter classrooms, but Cardona said he doesn't know if that's necessary.
"I do believe all students should have access to testing, but I don't know that it needs to be required," he said.
He continued, "We need to make sure they get into class safely and stay in the classroom."
-ABC News' Molly Nagle