January 4 coronavirus pandemic and Omicron variant news

By Rhea Mogul, Adam Renton, Jack Guy and Ed Upright, Meg Wagner, Adrienne Vogt, Aditi Sangal, Melissa Macaya and Melissa Mahtani, CNN

Updated 4:53 a.m. ET, January 5, 2022
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11:16 a.m. ET, January 4, 2022

Omicron now accounts for 95% of new US Covid-19 infections

From CNN’s Ben Tinker

The Omicron variant caused 95.4% of new Covid-19 cases in the US last week – significantly higher than the previous week, according to estimates posted Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Over the past four weeks, Omicron has risen rapidly in estimates, accounting for:

  • 8.0% of cases the week ending Dec. 11
  • 37.9% of cases the week ending Dec. 18
  • 77.0% of cases the week ending Dec. 25
  • 95.4% of cases the week ending Jan. 1

The Delta variant makes up nearly all of the rest.

Note: Not every Covid-19 test is sent for the extra genetic sequencing needed to detect which variant has infected someone. The CDC works off samples and extrapolates its estimates based on that extra testing.

12:09 p.m. ET, January 4, 2022

Here's what one preliminary Israeli study shows about a fourth Covid-19 shot

From CNN's Elliott Gotkine

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks during a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, on January 2, 2022.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks during a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, on January 2, 2022. (Emil Salman/AFP/Getty Images)

A fourth dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine boosts a person’s antibodies fivefold in the space of a week, a preliminary Israeli study shows, supporting the country’s decision to offer a second booster to high-risk groups. 

The study is preliminary and has yet to be peer reviewed or published in a medical journal.

“This is good news,” said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who embraced the decision to recommend it. “That’s an indicator of a very high likelihood that the fourth dose will protect vaccinated people to a great degree against infection [and] to some degree against severe symptoms.”

Israel began rolling out a fourth shot of the Covid-19 vaccine to people 60 and older, as well as health care workers on Monday. Israel’s immunocompromised residents began receiving their second booster shot on New Year’s Eve. But this study, conducted at the Sheba Medical Center just outside Tel Aviv, used healthy hospital workers as their subjects.

Bennett’s spokesperson said the results increased the likelihood of a fourth shot being rolled out to the general population, though the final decision would lie with the Ministry of Health’s Director-General Nachman Ash.

Israel’s seven-day average of daily cases stands at 5,273, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The highest seven-day average was 9,426 between August and September last year. 

Earlier in the week, Bennett predicted the country’s current wave could peak at 50,000 cases a day. The R-coefficient, the number of people infected by each person who tests positive, jumped to 1.91, a level not seen since June 2021.

11:14 a.m. ET, January 4, 2022

About 10-15% of Omicron cases in the UK are reinfections, top British scientist says

From CNN's Niamh Kennedy

Volunteers hand out boxes of Covid-19 rapid antigen Lateral Flow Tests (LFT), in north east London on January 3, 2022.
Volunteers hand out boxes of Covid-19 rapid antigen Lateral Flow Tests (LFT), in north east London on January 3, 2022. (Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images)

Data suggests that about to 10 to 15% of Omicron cases in the United Kingdom are reinfections, according to the country's top scientist Dr. Neil Ferguson, who is a member of the UK government's Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE).

The fact that the variant is "substantially less severe" has helped the UK "undoubtedly," he told told BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday.

"We would be seeing much higher case numbers in hospital otherwise. And vaccines are holding up against severe disease and against severe outcomes well, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be difficult few weeks for the NHS," he said.

Ferguson also said he is "cautiously optimistic" that cases in London may have plateaued.

"I'm cautiously optimistic that infection rates in London in that key 18-50 age group, which has been driving the Omicron epidemic, may possibly have plateaued," he said, adding that it is too early to say fully whether cases are going down. 

It will take one to three weeks for other regions in England to see a drop in their case numbers, Ferguson estimated.

The return of schools and current mixing trends, however, make it too difficult for the scientists to know whether this will be sustained decrease or an initial drop and then high plateau as observed in July. 

Unlike the Delta variant, Omicron has not yet had time to make its way up to older more at-risk age groups, he warned.

As these cohorts are more likely to be hospitalized, this may culminate in a "different pattern in hospitalizations."

10:24 a.m. ET, January 4, 2022

Here's a look at the latest Covid-19 numbers in key Indian cities

From CNN's Swati Gupta

MUMBAI, INDIA - 2021/12/31: A healthcare worker collects a nasal swab sample from a man at Dadar railway station in Mumbai, India on 31 December 2021. Due to rise in Omicron cases in the city, passengers arriving from outstation who are not fully vaccinated or carrying a negative RT PCR report along with them have to undergo nasal swab testing at the railway station before they are allowed to proceed to their respective destination.
MUMBAI, INDIA - 2021/12/31: A healthcare worker collects a nasal swab sample from a man at Dadar railway station in Mumbai, India on 31 December 2021. Due to rise in Omicron cases in the city, passengers arriving from outstation who are not fully vaccinated or carrying a negative RT PCR report along with them have to undergo nasal swab testing at the railway station before they are allowed to proceed to their respective destination. (Ashish Vaishnav/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images)

The cities of Mumbai and New Delhi have collectively recorded at least 16,341 fresh Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, according to officials.

Delhi currently has a positivity rate of 8.37% with 5,481 new cases and the government announced further restrictions Tuesday afternoon.

“We need to control the spread as much as we can…I appeal to citizens to not leave their homes on Saturday and Sunday,” Manish Sisodia, Delhi’s deputy chief minister said at a news conference. 

All establishments, except essential services, will be shut on weekends in Delhi starting this weekend.

The Mumbai municipal corporation confirmed Tuesday that 10,860 new cases were recorded in the city in the past 24 hours. The city currently has more than 47,000 active cases.

India is expected to start administering booster shots on Jan. 10 to health care workers, frontline workers and people above the age of 60 with pre-existing medical conditions.  

At least 1.4 billion vaccine doses have been administered in India according to the Indian Ministry of Health. 

9:54 a.m. ET, January 4, 2022

CDC backs FDA decision to offer Covid-19 booster shots after 5 months

From CNN's Deidre McPhillips

A child receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at an elementary school vaccination site for children ages 5 to 11-year-old in Miami, Florida, U.S., on Monday, November 22, 2021.
A child receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at an elementary school vaccination site for children ages 5 to 11-year-old in Miami, Florida, U.S., on Monday, November 22, 2021. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday backed the US Food and Drug Administration’s decision to shorten the time needed between completing an initial series of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 and a booster shot from six months to five months.

The CDC also agreed with the FDA’s call to authorize a third dose of the primary vaccine series for some immunocompromised children ages 5 to 11, consistent with their recommendation for adults who are moderately or severely immunocompromised.

In the same announcement Monday, the FDA also authorized expanding booster eligibility to adolescents ages 12 to 15. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to discuss this issue.

“As we have done throughout the pandemic, we will continue to update our recommendations to ensure the best possible protection for the American people. Following the FDA’s authorizations, today’s recommendations ensure people are able to get a boost of protection in the face of Omicron and increasing cases across the country, and ensure that the most vulnerable children can get an additional dose to optimize protection against COVID-19,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement.

“If you or your children are eligible for a third dose or a booster, please go out and get one as soon as you can. Additionally, FDA took action this week to authorize boosters for 12-15 year olds – and I look forward to ACIP meeting on Wednesday to discuss this issue.”

9:45 a.m. ET, January 4, 2022

NYC mayor triples down on idea kids must be in school

From CNN's Kristina Sgueglia

Mayor Eric Adams speaks at Concourse Village Elementary School in Bronx of New York City, United States on January 3, 2021. NYC schools are opened today for in-person learning despite an omicron surge in COVID-19. 2 million at-home test kits provided by the state will be used to increase testing following the break, the mayor announced this week.
Mayor Eric Adams speaks at Concourse Village Elementary School in Bronx of New York City, United States on January 3, 2021. NYC schools are opened today for in-person learning despite an omicron surge in COVID-19. 2 million at-home test kits provided by the state will be used to increase testing following the break, the mayor announced this week. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

New York City Mayor Eric Adams tripled down on the idea that kids should be in schools despite the Omicron surge, and he insisted he is not in a battle with one of the city’s largest teachers’ unions over in-person learning in schools, saying instead he and the union president are on the “same page” and in “lock step.”

Adams told CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Tuesday that the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) president “understands that poor Black and brown children that are homeless, over 100,000 in the city, did not have access to high speed broadband. He understands that hundreds of thousands of children don’t have food at home to eat, the stabilizing diet for them comes from school, he understands the increase in attempted suicides when we closed down our schools before.”

Adams acknowledged that while he and the UFT President Michael Mulgrew may have a difference of opinion, he said he won’t feed into “hysteria.”

“It’s very clear, the safest place for children right now, is in a school building,” the mayor said.

Ahead of the return to school, the union sent in an email to its members saying they advised the mayor it would be “safest” to go to remote learning temporarily to mitigate staffing challenges upon the return, but ultimately the mayor felt “strongly” schools needed to remain open.

“It’s a luxury to say 'stay at home' when you have all the tools that you needed, but for Black, brown children that you don’t have access to some of the basic things, school is the best place for you, and I am going to continue to have my children be in a safe environment that all science is saying is the best place for him,” Adams told CNN.

When asked how he would advise parents to send their kids to school in the backdrop of pediatric hospitalizations at a record high, he said, “I'm saying to them your children are safer in schools than any other place based on the facts.” Earlier he said Covid-19 is a formidable opponent that pivots and shifts adding, “I'm going to do that” as well.

Adams, a parent himself, said “strand after strand, we can’t continue to stop our children from developing socially and academically ... So we have to learn how to live with Covid, and live with Covid in a safe way.”

Asked about businesses scaling back their in-person employees, Adams said, “We have to open."

“I know what we’re going through but what we must understand is that the resiliency of returning back to a normal life – if we don’t open our cities, we have almost 1 million people who are behind in their rent right here in this city, we have low-skilled employees who can’t do remote employment from home or telecommuting – that’s not a reality in a city like New York and across America, I need my cities to open and we have to be safe, we have to double down on vaccinations and booster shots, we have to double down on testing, but we have to reshape our thinking of how do we live with Covid," he said.

9:17 a.m. ET, January 4, 2022

Surgeon general says he expects update soon to include testing for CDC's isolation guidance

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy speaks about equitable health care during the Covid-19 pandemic in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, in Washington, DC on November 22, 2021.
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy speaks about equitable health care during the Covid-19 pandemic in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, in Washington, DC on November 22, 2021. (Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images)

The sharp rise in coronavirus cases and increase in hospitalizations are "troubling," but vaccines and booster shots prevent hospitalizations and deaths, according to US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy.

He told CNN that it is difficult to predict when numbers may drop in the US, but data so far in other countries shows less severity in disease from the Omicron variant and a drop-off in cases.

Murthy also said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is "working on issuing a clarification" on shortened isolation period guidance, and he "would expect that any day now."

"They're going to speak to the role that testing can play," he said.

"What they're trying to do — and it's important to say more broadly — is recognize and incorporate both the evolving science on Omicron and on prior variants in terms of how long somebody remains contagious, with the critical need to maintain essential services," Murthy added.

"I believe that there will be a role for antigen testing here to help reduce risk as well," he continued.  

As children's hospitals report record numbers of children in their care for Covid-19, Murthy said it is not clear that Omicron makes kids more susceptible to the coronavirus, and "we have even more work to do here to get more children vaccinated."

8:49 a.m. ET, January 4, 2022

Update to CDC's isolation guidance is imminent, source tells CNN

From CNN’s Kaitlan Collins

Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, November 4, 2021.
Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, November 4, 2021. (Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to update its guidance on the recommended isolation period soon, according to a source familiar with the plan.

The agency, which could provide an update as soon as today, has faced pressure over the last week from outside medical experts to include a testing component in its new shortened isolation period. But it remains to be seen what the final language from the CDC will look like.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has steadfastly defended the agency's decision not to include recommending a rapid test in the new guidance, telling CNN last week, “We opted not to have the rapid test for isolation because we actually don’t know how our rapid tests perform and how well they predict whether you’re transmissible during the end of disease.”

On CNN Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the “likelihood of transmissibility is considerably lower” in the second half of the 10-day period following a positive result.

Walensky has also maintained that the CDC’s decision to not include a testing recommendation had nothing to do with the nationwide shortage of rapid tests.

“This decision really, from an isolation standpoint, had everything to do with the fact that we wouldn’t change our guidance based on the result of that rapid test. And you know that it didn’t have anything to do with any shortage at all, because we recommend rapid tests for those in quarantine,” Walensky said.

Despite that, there has been deep frustration inside the Biden administration in the days since the CDC announced it was shortening the isolation period for those who test positive for Covid-19 from 10 days to five with no testing component, according to multiple officials.

8:43 a.m. ET, January 4, 2022

The US's largest children's hospital is reporting a four-fold increase in Covid-19 hospitalizations

From CNN's Travis Caldwell

The Texas Children's Hospital stands at the Texas Medical Center (TMC) campus in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Wednesday, June 24, 2020.
The Texas Children's Hospital stands at the Texas Medical Center (TMC) campus in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Wednesday, June 24, 2020. (Callaghan O'Hare/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

With tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans at higher risk for severe disease from Covid-19 infections, doctors and health care facilities nationwide are reporting a rising number of young people hospitalized, some of whom are too young to receive vaccine doses.

The nation's largest pediatric hospital, Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, is reporting a more than four-fold increase in child hospitalizations from Covid-19 over the last two weeks, spurred by the spread of the Omicron and Delta variants over the holiday season.

"We have staggering numbers here from this Omicron surge already," Dr. Jim Versalovic, pathologist-in-chief at Texas Children's, said Monday. "We shattered prior records that were established during the Delta surge in August."

More than 700 children were in the hospital with Covid-19 during one 24-hour period last week, he said, and 90% of cases were shown through sequencing to have been caused by the Omicron variant.

"We are seeing more Covid now than we have seen in previous waves," said Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, a primary care pediatrician and assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, "and it's worrisome that the worst of the winter here has not passed, and we are bracing for what is still to come."

Noting that some children who have coronavirus may be seeking medical care for other conditions yet testing positive, Bracho-Sanchez told CNN's Anderson Cooper Monday it is evident from what she has seen in New York City that more children there have Covid-19 than ever before.

"We would be foolish to keep minimizing Covid-19 in children at this point in the pandemic," she said.

Early research suggests Omicron may cause more upper airway problems, unlike previous strains that caused lower airway problems. However, upper airway conditions can be more dangerous for children than adults.

"We cannot treat the airways of children like they are the airways of adults," she said. "It's just not the way it works. And for us pediatricians, we know that respiratory viruses can lead to ... croup and bronchiolitis, that inflammation of the upper airways that does get in children in trouble."

Versalovic said Monday of the children at their facility needing care, "It's clear that the majority of cases either have Covid-19 as a primary factor or as a significant contributing factor to their hospitalization."

Data published from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services last week showed that pediatric hospital admissions had reached a record high, eclipsing marks from the 2020 holiday surge as well as the Delta surge over the summer and fall.

Cumulative hospitalization rates through November are about eight times higher for unvaccinated adults and about 10 times higher for unvaccinated children ages 12 to 17, according to CDC data.

Children are the least vaccinated age group in the US, with around 53% of ages 12-17 fully vaccinated and those ages 5-11 far less, according to CDC data. Americans at age 18-24 are nearly 59% fully vaccinated and those ages 25-39 are at 63%.

Overall, 62% of the US population is fully vaccinated and more than 33% of those have received a booster, CDC data shows.

Read more about this here.