and good evening. i m erin burnett. out front tonight, biden versus xi. the white house escalating tensions with china tonight, refusing to send american diplomats to the winter olympics in beijing. in a couple months. white house press secretary jen psaki, officially, announcing the boycott today after months of pressure. we will not be contributing to the fanfare of the games. u.s. diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the prc s egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in xinjiang and we simply can t do that. well, i mentioned there had been pressure. and president biden is now receiving bipartisan support for this move. republican senator mitt romney tweeting, quote, america will not turn a blind eye to china s predation, persecution, and genocide. and republican senator tom cotton, for his part, says the white house isn t going anywhere near far enough. he is calling for a full boycott of the games. now,
a live report from london s airport just ahead. the biden administration is expected to announce a diplomatic boycott of the beijing olympics. we ll tell you how china is reacting to the news. ash and destruction in indonesia displaces hundreds of people. officials say the volcano is still dangerous. announcer: live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with rosemary church. it is monday, december 6th and we begin with the omicron variant. right now new covid testing requirements are in effect for all travelers coming to the united states. so here s what you need to know. there are omicron cases in at least 16 states including california and new york. now all travelers boarding a flight to the u.s. must have proof of a negative covid test one day before takeoff. plus, foreign nationals must be fully vaccinated to enter the country and a mask mandate remains in place for all airports, planes, and public transportation. though the new variant is causing alarm worldwid
that applies whether you re a u.s. citizen or not. foreign nationals have to prof t prove they are fully vaccinated. that does not apply to americans. there is still so much we don t know. one of the biggest questions, how dangerous is it? thus far it doesn t look like there s a great degree of severity to it, but we ve really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or it really doesn t cause any severe illness comparable to delta. thus far, the signals are a bit encouraging regarding the severity. at the same time though delta remains the dominant strain in the united states. still, cdc director michelle walensky says omicron is being carefully watched. we know we have, you know, several dozen cases and we re following them closely and we are every day hearing about more and more probable cases so that number is likely to rise. u.s. now averaging about 120,000 new covid cases a day. as you can see there, that is the highest level in
severe cases of covid there so far. dr. anthony fauci says he is optimistic though cautions it s too early to know for certain. thus far, it does not look like there s a great degree of severity to it, but we really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or really doesn t cause any severe illness comparable to delta, but thus far, the signals are a bit encouraging regarding the severity. regarding the severity is key, that relates to hospitalizations. more good news as well, the cdc says that demand for vaccines in the u.s. is up. right now the u.s. is averaging more than 2.2 million tdoses pe day. moments ago the mayor of new york city announced he is adding a vaccine mandate for all private sector workers there by the end of the month. he s also now adding children 5 to 11 to vaccine passes for indoor dining and entertainment. in new york you ve already been required to show that card when entering restaurants for a number of weeks no
tops. 14 dead, 1300 displaced after a volcano erupts in indonesia. new covid testing requirements are now in effect for all travelers coming into the united states, and it s part of an effort to curb the varian. anyone boarding the flight to the united states including citizens must have proof of a negative covid test 24 hours before takeoff. plus, foreign nationals must be vaccinated to enter the country. now, that requirement not yet in place for u.s. citizens. cnn s nadia romero has more on the details of these new requirements. reporter: holiday travel plus the omicron variant continues to cause concern about the spread of covid-19. in late november, scientists in south africa were the first to identify the omicron variant. where and when it first emerged is still unclear. but cases are now reported in dozens of countries including europe and here in the u.s. coronavirus cases in south africa nearly quadrupled over four days in the past week. but south africa s pr