Good morning to those of you in the United States and around the world. Brianna and john are off today. Good morning, john. Two days to 2022. Two days left. This morning we have big headlines with the u. S. Shattering its record of daily new coronavirus cases as the highly contagious Omicron Variant spreads rapidly. Daily new cases hitting a record sevenday average of 300,000 cases this week. The last time we hit a peak close to that was january. Dr. Fauci is strongly discouraging going to large parties. Dont be hugging, kissing, any of that celebrating that normally comes with new years. If your plans are to go to a 40 to 50person new Years Eve Party with all the bells and whistles and everybody hugging and kissing and wishing each other a happy new year, i would strongly recommend that this year we do not do that. Not the year for hugging and kissing at midnight. All right. Theres also been growing pushback from Frontline Workers to the new cdc guidelines, cutting the amount of sugge
Tensions over ukraine, no doubt, on top of that agenda. And mourners pay their respects to Antiapartheid Hero Archbishop Desmond tutu. Well go live to africa. Announcer live from london, this is cnn newsroom with max foster. Its thursday, december 30th, with just two days left in 2021. We are now seeing the coronavirus pandemic explode right around the globe. According to Johns Hopkins university, the world is averaging an alltime high of more than a million new infections a day. Experts warn things will only get worse. This virus will continue to evolve and threaten our Health System if we dont improve the collective response. Concerned omicron will be more transmissible, circulating at the same time as delta is leading to a tsunami of cases. Infections are also rising quickly in the u. S. The country is averaging more than 300,000 new cases a day in the past week, and thats another record. Johns hopkins reports close to 490,000 cases on wednesday. And more than half a million on mond
Years eve celebrations. The annual times square celebration in New York City is for now a go. The fda has authorized two new athome tests, but for now the demand for testing is drastically outpacing supply. Many hospitals are maxed out with large portions of staff out sick themselves. States like georgia and ohio are the latest to activate the National Guard for help. Some experts say this is the new reality for the foreseeable future. Everything were going to do right now will be imperfect. Just accept that right now. We dont know a lot of the things we wish we knew, but what we do know and is emerging is this country will be in the soup in the next few weeks. With so many cases in so many locations, well see Critical Infrastructure as well as health care challenged. One of those big challenges is a rise in pediatric cases. More than 300 children being admitted to the hospital nation wild for covid every day in the last two weeks, just 2 below the peak in september. The chief of Pedia
Hospitalizations worldwide nationwide, rather. Spearheading legislation in congress for three decades, we look back at the legacy of one of americas post powerful politicians, senator harry reid. They promised to protect womens rights. The new taliban law restricts them even more. Announcer live from london, this is cnn newsroom with max foster. Its wednesday, december the 29th. Our new worries over the Omicron Surge could make weeks ahead difficult for Hospital Workers across the united states. Joe bidens covid team says the country is in for a tough january. I suspect by the end of january things will peak, and theres no question that january will be filled with a lot of shortterm challenges, hospital beds shortages, its tough to handle this many cases at once. But i think if there is a silver lining, its that when it comes out fast its likely to go down even more quickly. Well, the u. S. Is averaging more than 265,000 cases a day over the past week. According to the centers for Dise
0micron infections continue to soar in many parts of the world, and that is triggering some very different responses from governments and authorities. After seeing a record high of more than 100,000 new cases on saturday, france has announced tougher restrictions. Remote working is now compulsory and public gatherings have been cut to 2,000 people for indoor events. In contrast, in the uk, with cases also reaching record highs, Health Secretary sajid javid has said there will be no further measures before the new year, but of course people should remain cautious. And in the us, where joe biden s top medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci has warned that there could easily be 500,000 cases a day in the coming weeks, the centers for Disease Control has halved the recommended isolation time for people with asymptomatic infections, from ten to five days. Well have the details on that change in the us and the Science Behind it in a minute, but first we start with the new measures in france. The b