of the variant, but first mark lobel has this report. texas was bracing itself for an omicron storm, now it reports what s believed to be the usa s first related death. look how quickly, over the past week in the states, omicron, in purple here, has taken over the delta variant, represented in orange, in new cases. three, two, one, happy new year! so with ten days until 2022, its dominance including 90% of new cases here in new york will no doubt feature injoe biden s stark warning for the country s unvaccinated in an address expected later on tuesday. chanting but in boston, there s anger that only the vaccinated will soon be allowed to enter restaurants, and that compulsoryjabs for all city employees will be dished out. in washington, it s indoor mask wearing that s back on the menu,
adults have had two shots. and the government is now moving fast to roll out boosters. in vietnam there has been a covid surge too, in spite of a push to vaccinate students between the ages of 12 and 17. but the good news is elsewhere in asia covid rates are falling. at least for the moment. travel restrictions in most countries were tightened up again in november, as health officials across the region braced for the possibility that the drop in infections can a delta calm before an overwhelming omicron storm. it is not yet clear how lethal omicron is going to turn out to be. but we re about to find out. in britain, for example, some scientists think it st going to be the dominant strain by the end of next week, jericka. izabh palmer, thank you. straight ahead on the cbs weekend news, help wanted with
0 that is it for us at 5:00 and we will see you back here at 6:00 for a full hours of news. th weekend news is captioning sponsored by cbs duncan: tonight desperate search. scramming to find the missing after tornadoes leech a catastrophic trail through the south and midwest. over 100 people now feared dead. kentucky among those hardest hit. the devastation like none of us have ever seen before. entire towns destroyed and devastated. i m david begnaud in mayfield, kentucky, where you have the community coming together to remove debris while at the same time search and rescue operations are still under way right now. countless homes now splint erred ruins. survivors struggle after losing everything. i m lilia luciano in bowling green, kentucky, where nearly a dozen people lost their lives. with no power, the temperature dropping. i have been in afghanistan twice and i think this is the worst. duncan: president biden returns to washington, pledging help is on the way. a