you're live in the cnn newsroom. i'm jim acosta in washington. we start with breaking news. fears of another pandemic setback as dr. anthony fauci says a covid variant that could easily spread -- more easily and potentially evade vaccines already could be here in the u.s. >> i would not be surprised if it is -- we have not detected it yet. when you have a virus like this, it almost inverably is going to go essentially all over. >> the omicron variant has been detected in south africa, israel and hong kong. italy, germany and the uk announced confirmed cases. british prime minister boris johnson confirming what so many have feared would happen. >> it does appear that omicron spreads very rapidly and can be spread between people who are double vaccinated.