in new zealand, they are delaying their phased reopening plans after being shut for about two years. new zealand was in january set to finally start this phased reopening. that is now being delayed. take a listen to what the nation s covid-19 minister had to say. all evidence so far points to omicron being the most transmissible variant yet and public health advice suggests that every case coming in through our border and our isolation facilities will be the omicron variant. our immediate job right now must be to slow it down and to delay it from speaking with the new zealand community for as long as we possibly can. on the bright side, new zealand has become one most vaccinated countries in the world with about 90% of its adult population being vaccinated. elsewhere across asia, cases rising in china and south korea. what is the latest on that area?
reporter: the u.s. now averaging about 1200 death as day. 130,000 new covid-19 cases a day. that figure up 10% from a week ago. hospitalizations nationwide up 35% over last month. and intensive care unit beds, nearly 80% fulfill cases rising much faster in parts of the southwest and the northeast. new york city, an early he said center of the pandemic, seeing a spike in cases officials say is being driven by omicron. we have to move faster. that s why we re focusing even more on vaccination. and we know that vaccination helps address omicron. reporter: still undecided on whether crowds will fill times square for new years eve. as new covid infections have upended the world of sports, entertainment sxed indication. forcing saturday night live to cancel its live audience. the nhl and nfl postponing games
people take a 20 times greater risk than those who received a booster shot and still around 30% of americans are we fusing to get even the tirs shot. perhaps an epiphany or there will always be about a third of the country. it is sad that we ve gone a year and we still have actually, 39% of americans have not been fully vaccinated. and this is what is holding us back. this is why we ve done so poorly and now we re not ready in any way to deal with omicron, going through right now a second surge with delta. so whether that will change, it seems remote. on the other hand, every day we go, where our number of people
europe. and in the u.s., the new variant has become the dominant strain in just three weeks. i ll speak to a doctor about this rapid rise. joe biden s domestic agenda takes a hit as democrats fight over his build back better bill. what s being done to try to salvage the deal? plus, u.s. missionaries kidnapped in haiti say they made a daring escape. we ll bring you the latest detalds. announcer: live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with rosemary church. well, fears of an omicron takeover are becoming a reality in the u.s. on monday the cdc announced the highly contagious variant now accounts for more than 73% of new cases. omicron has been detected in all but two u.s. states, and it s even more prevalent in parts of
omicron wave as it comes. so they want the delay. omicron wave as it comes. so they want the delay, hence omicron wave as it comes. so they want the delay, hence the - want the delay, hence the restrictions, can you bring us up to date on the covid numbers for france? up-to-date on the covid numbers for france? , ., ., . ., , france? they are not particularly aood france? they are not particularly good here france? they are not particularly good here either, france? they are not particularly good here either, they re - france? they are not particularly good here either, they re going l good here either, they re going upwards fast. 65,000, around their daily cases that s largely to do with the huge amount of testing that s going on. but still, it s a lot and it s heading up. all that, a tiny percent is omicron, the vast majority is delta. but nonetheless, what everyone is preparing for is for that to change, everyone knows that when these new variants arrive, they very quickly