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.
Latest headlines:
UCLA pulls out of bowl game
UCLA said its football team has pulled out of Tuesday night's San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl due to COVID-19.
UCLA was set to play North Carolina State.
-ABC News' Matt Fuhrman
Greece sees record single-day increase
Greece reported 21,657 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday -- a record 133% increase from the 9,284 new cases reported on Monday, according to government data.
Eighty-five percent of COVID-19 patients in Greece's hospitals are not vaccinated.
-ABC News' Christine Theodorou
US cases, hospitalizations, deaths expected to rise
Forecast models used by the CDC suggest cases, hospitalizations and deaths will rise over the next four weeks.
According to the models, the U.S. death toll could reach 862,900 by Jan. 22.
Nationally, estimates suggest between 8,700 and 20,800 Americans could be admitted to the hospital each day by Jan. 10.
These forecasts are 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, Brian Hartman
Hugh Jackman tests positive, The Music Man cancels performances
Hugh Jackman, who has been starring in The Music Man on Broadway, tweeted that he tested positive for COVID-19 Tuesday morning.
"My symptoms are like a cold -- I have a scratchy throat and a bit of a runny nose," Jackman said in an Instagram video. "But I'm fine and I'm just going to do everything I can to get better ASAP. And as soon as I'm cleared, I'll be back on stage."
The Music Man tweeted that all performances are canceled through Jan. 1 and that Jackman will be back in the show on Jan. 6.
Why CDC doesn't require testing at end of isolation: Director
The newly updated CDC guidelines don't require testing at the end of isolation because PCR tests can stay positive for up to 12 weeks, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told "Good Morning America" Wednesday.
"So we would have people in isolation for a very long time if we were relying on PCRs," Walensky said.
Walensky also addressed Tuesday's news from the FDA that, according to early data, rapid antigen tests may be less sensitive when it comes to the omicron variant.
"We do know that the most sensitive test you can do is a PCR test," Walensky said. "So if you have symptoms and you have a negative antigen test, we do ask you to go and get a PCR to make sure those symptoms are not attributable to COVID."
Walensky said rapid tests do work "quite well," especially in places where people are being tested regularly, like at schools.
"They may not work as well as they have for the delta variant," Walensky said, but "we still are encouraging their use."