is now averaging about 640,000 new cases of covid per day, that's according to johns hopkins. while it's a big number, a significant drop over the past two weeks. now to other covid news making headlines around the world. austria is joining a list of several european nations that have announced the easing of coronavirus restrictions, even though infections there are still high. denmark will lift all covid measures starting tuesday. the country has high levels of immunity due to high vaccination rates and previous infections. meanwhile, many countries in eastern europe are being hard-hit by the spread of omicron. romania, poland, and hungary are among the nations reporting high number of daily infections last week. and in israel, the number of serious covid cases has reached 1,000 for the first time in nearly a year. even so, one coronavirus expert that the country has passed the peak of its omicron wave. joining us now are thathadas gon jerusalem and scott mclane in london. we're seeing a continuation of a trend we've been seeing in some european countries. cases still high, r

this is according to a new data out today from johns hopkins university. cases are up in 20 states but down in parts of the northeast, southeast, and some parts of the west. >> hospitalizations are up in 40 states, like oklahoma. leaders of four oklahoma city hospitals tell cnn that they are now at a breaking point with zero icu beds available. cnn's nick valencia is live at a covid testing site in atlanta. so, nick, what are you seeing there? >> reporter: yeah, really sobering data coming out from johns hopkins university, wanted to start there. that data, though, coming from confirmed lab tests so you have to imagine, victor and alisyn, that there are even more americans who were infected by covid-19 that didn't get a test. here, though, in metro atlanta, at testing sites like st. phillips, testing has considerably slowed down, especially compared to what they saw over the last three to four weeks as omicron was surging across the country. the demand here was so significant, they had about 600 cars per day that they brought in and partnered with lab link

this is just at the john hopkins data that we know. we know covid cases are underreported but based on the reporting we have one in five americans, one in five americans have been infected with covid-19. what do you think the actual number is, if that's the baseline from what we know, even the johns hopkins officials say they suspect it's well higher than that. >> right. i also think that it's much higher than that, and that's because we're undercounting. a lot of people may have had sniffles and didn't get tested because they don't have access to testing. also many people are taking rapid tests and most of these rapid tests are not being included in the county or statewide totals, and so i would estimate that we're undercounting by a factor of five to ten. >> wow. >> and as a result i agree with what many people have been saying which is that we're all going to come in contact with omicron unless we take extraordinary measures, and that's the reason why we all want to be vaccinated and boosted for when we come in contact with it so th

. >>> according to data from johns hopkins university, the u.s. crossed 65 million total coronavirus cases on saturday. that number has been fueled in recent days by the fast-spreading omicron variant. as you can see here, places like arkansas, california, oklahoma and oregon have been especially hard hit. this comes as the u.s. crosses a new threshold, 850,000 total deaths so far during this pandemic in the united states alone. officials are hoping to combat the rise of infections by making testing more available. as of saturday americans are able to get reimbursed with home tests. >>> now beijing has reported its first case of the omicron variant less than three weeks before that city hosts the winter olympics. authorities have sealed off the neighborhood where the case was found and have begun mass testing in the area. the infected person has not traveled recently outside of beijing. cases on thursday have been confirmed of omicron. seven cities are fighting the highly transmissible variant. >>> this weekend saw protests across europe. i'm join

. >> according to johns hopkins university, more than 2200 americans are dieing from covid-19 every day. but there is some sign of hope. daily numbers of infections and hospitalizations are dropping. more people are getting vaccinated. cnn's alexandra field reports. >> my message would be just hang in there. >> reporter: easier said than done for many americans, but as exhaustion with the pandemic grows, so do signs of hope. omicron cases coming down in much of the country, and promisingly, new data shows vaccination numbers are going up a bit during the omicron surge. a new kaiser family foundation study found 77% of americans have received at least one dose of the covid vaccine compared to 73% in november when vaccination rate has stagnated. and more proof of how well vaccines work. according to the cdc, unvaccinated seniors were 52 times more likely to be hospitalized with covid in december, than seniors who were fully vaccinated and boosted. >> let's keep working on reporting with therapeutics and vaccines and make sure there's plenty of them. so whenever the next variant hits, we'l

. >> reporter: and on that infectiousness, data from johns hopkins shows more than a quarter of case reported since the pandemic began were reported in the last month. separately, dr. rochelle walensky says those eligible to be boosted and haven't been are not considered up to date on their vaccinations. and that the cdc is looking to pivot language around what it means to be fully vaccinated. i'm omar jimenez, cnn, chicago. >> dr. robert wachter is the chair of the department of university of medicine in san francisco and joins me now, he's also the author of the book "the digital doctor, hope, help and harm at the covid computer age." thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> when you look at infection rates, they are soaring, but the w.h.o. says in some countries cases hav s s have peaked. and here in the united states, some cities like washington, d.c., new york and cleveland are also seeing infections starting to level off or decline. what's your assessment? how much hope should that give us? >> a tremendous amount of hope. i think when we saw the south africa curve go up like a r

. >>> now according to data from johns hopkins university, the united states crossed 65 million total coronavirus cases on saturday. that number has been fueled in recent days by the fast-spreading omicron variant. as you can see here, places like arkansas, california, oklahoma and oregon have been especially hard hit. this comes as the u6.s. crosses an even more chilling number. 850,000 deaths so far in this pandemic. >>> they are trying to make testing more available. as of saturday many americans are able to get reimbursed for home tests through their private insurance companies. i want to take a look now at other covid headlines around the world. in china, a neighborhood in beijing was locked down after the city first reported its first case in fact on saturday. that is of the omicron variant. authorities have mass testing of people living there and this comes as beijing is set to host the winter olympics in less than three weeks. germany has in the meantime tightened restrictions on bars and restaurants to help stem the surge of the omicron variant. access to limited to people fu

hopkins university. but daily cases and hospitalizations of americans are dropping which is a shot of hope echoed by dr. anthony fauci. >> i'm cautiously optimistic that things are going in the right direction. >> here's another possible shot at hope after a stagnant spell, vaccinations seem to be kicking back up. now 77% of americans have at least one dose. but as cnn reports for us now, an omicron spinoff variant is catching the eye of scientists. >> my message would be just hang in there. >> easier that than done for many americans, but as exhaustion with the pandemic grows, so do signs of hope. omicron cases coming down in much of the country and promisingly, new data shows vaccination numbers are going up a bit during the omicron surge. a new kaiser family foundation study finds 77% of americans have received at least one dose of a covid vaccine, compared to 73% in november when vaccination rates had stagnated. and more proof of how well vaccines work, according to the cdc, unvaccinated seniors were

now, according to data from johns hopkins university, the u.s. has recorded a total of 69 million covid cases since the start of the pandemic. that's more than a quarter of those infections have now been reported just in this past month during, of course, the omicron surge. if we show you a look at coronavirus headlines right around the world, austria is now the first country in europe to mandate vaccines for adults. the country's parliament passed a law on thursday making it compulsory for residents over 18. now, the mandate will be enforced beginning march 15th, and violators could face nearly $700 in fines. early next month, france will start easing some of its covid-19 restrictions. sports and venues will be allowed to reopen february 2nd. later in the month bars will follow suit. and with just two weeks to go really until the start of the winter olympics, olympic officials say covid has been detected among the guests who have already arrived in beijing, but they have stressed that no infection has occurred in the closed loop which includes t

data compiled by johns hopkins university shows more than 1.5 million new infections on monday, mondays are usually skewed since states don't report over the weekend. pfizer said it's working on a redesigned vaccine specifically targeting the omicron variant. >> if what we want from this vaccine is protection against serious illness, the vaccines all provide that and appear to provide at least a year after getting the vaccine, it's true for all four variants including omicron variant. if you see an erosion of protection against serious illness then i think we're talking about a specific vaccine but i don't think we're there yet. >> u.s. health insurance companies will have to start covering the cost of at-home covid trop covid tests. and new rules call for eight tests a month without a prescription. >> we're working closely with manufacturers to understand what they can ship and when. we expect that the contract is structured in if a way that significant amounts are delivered on a time line, we expect to have all contracts awarded the next two weeks and americans will begin being able t

. >> reporter: and on that infectiousness, data from johns hopkins shows that more than a quarter of all covid-19 cases reported since the pandemic began were reported in the last month. separately, dr. rochelle walensky says those eligible to be boosted but haven't been are not considered up to date on their vaccinations, and that the cdc is looking to pivot language around what it means to be fully vaccinated. omar jimenez, cnn, chicago. >>> some countries are already seeing the omicron wave start to subside. earlier i spoke with dr. robert walker, chair of the department of medicine at the university of the california san francisco. i asked him if there was any hope that we could see the same in the u.s. any time soon. >> a tremendous amount of hope. i think when we had saw the south africa curve go up like a rocket and then come down equally quickly the hope was that that would be the pattern that we would see elsewhere. then we saw it in london and the whole uk, and now we're seeing it in -- first in the northeast where the virus hit first in the united states, but now we're see

with johns hopkins university reporting more than 2,200 daily fatalities recently. but there are some signs of hope. daily numbers for infections and hospitalizations are dropping and 77% of americans received at least one dose of a covid vaccine. the governor of new york says the state's covid cases dropped 86% in the last three weeks. hospitalizations are also down nearly 40%. but scientists are watching an omicron spin-off variant called ba.2. it's been detected in dozens of countries, including the u.s. right now, experts say there isn't a reason for alarm. >>> well, it was a noisy day in the canadian capital on satu saturday. crowds packed parliament hill in hotwa to protest cross-border mandates. police were on alert after violent rhetoric. about 90% of canada's truckers are already vaccinated. >>> austria is joining the list of several european nations who have announced the easing of covid-19 restrictions, even though infections there are still high. opening hours of restaurants and shops will be extended and the maximum number of people at events will be in

., but according to john hopkins university more than 2,200 americans are still dying every day. a new study finds that a majority of americans think that it's inevitable covid-19 will affect most of the country. but if that's the case, what's an acceptable level of infection? here's what america's top infectious disease expert had to say. >> when you have over 2,000 deaths, 150,000 hospitalizations, and you have people who are now getting infected to the tune of somewhere around 700,000 a day, we're not there yet. where we want to be is that sufficient control, a level of control that does not disrupt us in society, does not dominate our lives, does not prevent us to do the things that we generally do under normal existence. that would be a level of infection, but more importantly concentrating on the severity of the disease, hospitalizations and deaths, that fall within the category of what we generally accept. we don't like it, but we accept it with other respiratory viruses. >> and dr. fauci says he's keeping a close eye on the omicron spin-off variant as it becomes the domin

with an average of about 356,000 covid infections reported every day in the past week, according to johns hopkins university. ♪ >> reporter: as the world rang in the new year, the latest surge is sweeping across the u.s., pushing indication and hospitalizations to unprecedented levels. experting warning the turning point could be weeks away. >> given the size of our country and the diversity of vaccination versus nonvaccination, that is likely we'll be more than a couple weeks, probably by the end of january. >> reporter: roughly 62% in the country is fully vaccinated according to the centers for disease control and preparation, only 33 of vaccinated adults have gotten boosters which expects say are critical protecting against the variants. the omicron variant the most contagious strain rapidly spreading across the world. in the u.s., seeing the highest number of hospitalization. new york reporting over 5,076 cases. hospitalizations hit 8,000, an 8% spike from the day before. and risen 20% since monday. >> clearly, new york and washington, d.c., ahead of the curve, but not by much, expe

hopkins university. as the world rang in the new year, the latest surge is sweeping across the u.s., pushing cases and hospitalizations to unprecedented levels. experts warning a turning point could be weeks away. >> given the size of our country and the diversity of vaccination versus not vaccination, that it likely will be more than a couple of weeks, probably by the end of january. >> reporter: roughly 62% of the country is fully vaccinated according to the centers for disease control and prevention. only about 33% of fully vaccinated adults have gotten boosters, which experts say are critical in protecting against severe illness from the variants. the omicron variant, the most contagious strain, rapidly spreading across the world. in the u.s. they're seeing the highest case and hospitalization hospitals ever. new york reported more than 76,000 new cases on thursday, the governor's office said, breaking its single-day record. hospitalizations hit about 8,000, an 8% spike from the day before. hospitali

., but they're going the right direction, according to johns hopkins university. the u.s. is now averaging about 706,000 covid cases, down double digits from a week ago. new cases are up in 15 states you see on the map in orange and red in the map, including some in the west and south. cases have fallen in the green state states including california and those in the northeast. here is what dr. fauci said this afternoon on cnn about the latest numbers. >> we've projected in the next week or two or more we'll start seeing the peak coming down. how long it takes to get down to the baseline that you would feel comfortable with we're anyone arena we can live with that type of activity, it's difficult to predict. >> over the weekend, former fda chief scott gottlieb said some areas face a hard month ahead. he doesn't think we'll see a national peak until february. joining us now is michael olstum. early on, you predicted the viral blizzard that the omicron variant caused. what are your expectations for when this surge will end? >> well, i think collective as a nation we have a fe

hopkins university. as the world rang in the new year, the latest surge is sweeping across the u.s., pushing cases and hospitalizations to unprecedented levels. experts warning a turning point could be weeks away. >> given the size of our country and the diversity of vaccination versus nonvaccination, that it likely will be more than a couple of weeks probably by the end of january. >> reporter: roughly 62% of the country is fully vaccinated according to the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention. only about 33 of fully vaccinated adults have gotten boosters, which experts say are critical to protecting from the variants. the omicron variant rapidly spreading across the world. in the u.s., states are seeing their highest case and hospitalization numbers ever. new york reported more than 76,500 new cases on thursday. the governor's office said breaking its single day record. hospitalizations hit about 8,000, an 8% spike from the day before. hospitalizations have risen almost 20% since monday. >>

that's according to latest data from johns hopkins university. >> i'm worried about our hospitals. we're going to continue to see millions and millions of cases in the united states. and even with a lower virulence apparently for this variant, still about 2% of folks who contract the virus need to be hospitalized. and it's going to be a race. it's going to be a race between waiting for the surge to crest and hoping that we don't run out of hospital capacity. >> reporter: just re-emphasizing what we just heard there from dr. reiner. the staggering numbers are only going to continue to climb. and the question with so many cases, paula, will the nation's healthcare system be able to actually handle a surge in patients that we're expected to see? >> and that's the big question, polo sandoval, thank you so much. >>> and coming up, a judge delivers a major blow to prince andrew's attempt to get a sexual assault lawsuit thrown out before a hearing tomorrow. we're a different kind of dentistry. one who believes in doing anything it takes to make dentistry work for your life. so we offer a

. >> yeah, i checked with the johns hopkins university, right now the u.s. is averaging about 750,000 daily covid cases. almost 750,000. doctor offit, we're still waiting on the cdc to update the masking guidance potentially recommending what are called n-95 or kn-95 masks for better protection. take a look at what one study found about mask leakage. take a look at this. you could see the numbers n-95 went to 10%. surgical masks 15%. cloth masks 75% mask leakage. are americans walking around with cloth masks essentially underprotected from this omicron variant which is so highly transmissible? >> yeah, cloth masks are better than nothing but not much better than nothing. if you could get an n-95 mask and that is certainly a value and other wise the surgical mask could offer protection. please be vaccinated and we will get through this. we really don't have to go through this for about another four to six weeks and i think we're look in our rearview mirror of kroib. >> just be careful out there and clearly wear a mask. dr. stanford, the cdc director dr. roche

. >> according to johns hopkins, the u.s. is averaging more than 2,300 deaths a day from covid and the cdc predicts more than 62,000 additional deaths over the next four weeks, which is startling. why are there so many people dying from covid again? i assume these are mostly if not all, nearly all unvaccinated people. are these deaths because of the omicron variant, not delta? >> i don't think there's any evidence that the omicron variant is any more severe. in fact there's suggestive evidence that the omicron variant is somewhat less severe than delta. but if you look at the data, it's painful to show and to realize that if you look at deaths and hospitalizations and compare vaccinated people with unvaccinated people, overwhelmingly it's heavily weighted towards the unvaccinated people, which is why we continue to stress if you've not been vaccinated, even though on an individual basis if you're young and healthy, the chances are you're not going to get into trouble, we're seeing a lot of people getting hospitalized. you you

amish adull gentleman, senior scholar at johns hopkins university. all right. doctor, i want to start with you. we know the u.s. is averaging more than 386,000 cases a day. hospitalizations haven't risen as much. we know those numbers usually lag case counts. so from what you were seeing, do you think the health care system could be overwhelmed in the next few weeks? >> i certainly think that there are certain regions of the country where there are high risk people that are not vaccinated where you're going to see capacity compromised. they're being crushed with delta patients. that's been going on for the past couple months, and they have staffing shortages and they have staff out sick. so what we'll likely see are regional parts of the country having difficulties with maintaining hospital operations and that's where the federal government assets may come in very handy. systemically, i don't think we'll see what we saw like last year because so many have been vaccinated. we have more tools. it's not the beginning of the pandemic. it's sort of a new phase becau

and they put a new testing administrator in place, and someone from john hopkins, and that announcement sparked confidence in the medical community. >> andy slavitt, thank you for taking the time, and i hope that you will come back. thank you so much. >>> new economic numbers today, and we learned about 230,000 americans filed new jobless claims last week, and this is a little higher than expected, but it is coming as the inflation is continuing the rise as well, and joining us is cnn's matt egan, and take us behind the numbers. >> well, ana, we did get a surprise on the jobs front this morning with the first time that unemployment claims are rising unexpectedly by 23,000 in the latest week, ta aand the overal level is rising by 23,000, and there is a chart of this coming down dramatically from a year ago when 750,000 americans were filing, and showing that firing was common, but the fact that claims did rise is noteworthy, and it could be just because the claims tend to be a little bumpy and volatile for this time of the year, or an early sign of the covid stress, and the economists of

that's according to the latest data from johns hopkins university. >> i'm worried about our hospitals. we're going to continue to see millions and millions of cases in the united states and even with a lower vie are you lens apparently for this variant, still, about 2% of folks who contract the virus need to be hospitalized. it's going to be a race. it's going to be a race between waiting for this surge to crest and hoping that we don't run out of hospital capacity. >> reporter: as the holidays come to a close, airlines canceled more than 2700 flights on saturday, more than any other recent day. dealing with both coronavirus infections among avecration crews and a winter storm sweeping the nation, a week of massive cancellations have complicated travel, including the return home. polo sandoval, cnn, new york. >> thanks, for that report. >>> the white house is expected to unveil details about the rollout of 500 free at home covid tests -- rather 500 million i should say. >> cnn's kevin liptack is joining us live now. kevin, we still have a lot of questions about how exactly this plan t

in five, have now been infected with covid-19, this according to new data this morning from johns hopkins university. >> incredible statistic there. the latest surge from omicron cases is putting a huge strain on u.s. health care systems. take, for example, oklahoma city, where leaders from four major hospitals tell cnn they are at a breaking point, with no icu beds available due to the surge. let's go to cnn's senior medical correspondent, elizabeth cone, for more on this. how are hospitals in oklahoma city and across the country holding up weeks into the latest surge? >> you know what, many hospitals are struggling. we saw it in the northeast and we're going to see it as omicron spreads across the country. and it's not just omicron, when you look at places like oklahoma, there are many other factors at play. let's start with that letter. it's an open letter, this is very unusual, i don't know that i've ever seen this, an open letter from the heads of four large hospital systems in oklahoma, as they put it, to their fellow oklahomans saying soon you or a loved one may need us for life-sa

hopkins university. the u.s. is now averaging about 706,000 new covid case, down double digits from a week ago. but cases are up in 15 states you see this on the map in orange and red on that map. including some in the west and south. while cases have fallen in the green states, including california and those in the northeast. here is what dr. fauci said this afternoon on cnn about the latest numbers. >> we project that in the next week or two or more, we are going to start seeing the same peak and coming down. how hlong that takes to get dow to the baseline that you would feel comfortable with that we are in an arena that we can actually live with that type of activity, it's very difficult to predict. >> over the weekend, former-fda chief scott gottlieb said that some areas face a hard month ahead. he doesn't think we will see a national peak until february. joining us now for some perspective is michael osterholm, director of the center for infectious disease research and policy at the university of mi

according to data from johns hopkins university, we are now averaging more than 500,000 new cases a day. half a million more people getting infected every single day. and while deaths, thankfully, are actually down somewhat, the number of people hospitalized with covid is soaring. or anecdotally, so is the number of people who are frustrated, confused, and uncertain about what they should do about this latest surge. the latest guidelines out from the cdc add to the confusion. for starters, they estimate that the omicron variant, now 95% of cases in the country, is up to three times more infectious than delta. yet, in the face of that, the new guidelines still do not specifically recommend n95 or kn95 masks and say that cloth masks are still okay, despite what many experts have said on this program and others. so, that's confusing, to say the least. so is the new word on testing for people who are isolating, but symptom free five days after testing positive. simply put, they don't advise taking a home test. according to the new guidelines, if an individual has access to a test and wants

. >> and on that infectiousness, data from johns hopkins shows that more than a quarter of all covid-19 cases reported since the pandemic began were reported in the last month. separately, dr. rochelle walensky says if you're eligible to be boosted but haven't been, you're not considered up to date on your vaccinations and that the cdc is looking to pivot language around what it means to be fully vaccinated, jake. >> but they haven't done it yet, not officially. thanks omar jimenez. >>> joining us, dr. sanjay gupta. let's start with these three new reports showing boosters offer the best protection against hospitalization and severe illness from the omicron variant. what are the most important takeaways for you tremendous th from these studies? >> i think there's been conjecture around this. first of all, when it comes to cases, i'll show you hospitalizations in a second. when it comes to cases, they compared unvaccinated to fully vaccinated to boosted. people who got three shots. and you can see the difference there. i point out, something you and i have talked about. the biggest dif

that's according to the latest data from johns hopkins university. i'm worried about our hospitals. we're going to see millions of cases in the united states and even with a lower virulence apparent for this variant, still about 2% of folks who contract the virus need to be hospitalized, and it's going to be race. it's going to be a race between waiting for this surge to crest and hoping that we don't run out of hospital capacity. >> reporter: as the holidays come to a close, airlines canceled more than 2700 flights on saturday, more than any other recent day. dealing with both coronavirus infections among aviation crews and a winter storm sweeping much of the nation. a week of massive cancellations have complicated holiday travel including the return home. polo sandoval, cnn, new york. >> thank you for that report. >>> covid cases are surging not just in the united states, but europe as well. that's why french lawmakers are considering aggressive steps to slow the spread of covid-19 in that country. yesterday was the fourth consecutive day that france recorded more than 200,000 new