live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, welcome to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada, and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber. this is "cnn newsroom." more countries have detected cases of the covid omnicron variant and more are banning travel from the african countries where the variant was first discovered. we have live coverage from europe and asia. plus, a look at what could be the reason for the surge in smash-and-grab robberies in the united states. >> announcer: live from cnn center in atlanta, this is "cnn newsroom" with kim brunhuber. >> countries around the world are scrambling to get a handle on the new covid variant called omnicron. in recent days, it's already spread from southern africa and has been discovered in italy, germany, the uk, and the czech republic. australia has already reported two cases within the last few hours, and dutch authorities are now saying that omnicron was