received this statement from the white house 68-year-old secretary of defense lloyd austin did test positive for the virus this morning. he received his test after exhibiting symptoms, got tested and found out he was in fact infected but he says his symptoms are mild. he s following his physician s directions and will quarantine for five days at home. key to note, he will remain retain all duties over the coming days and he says that he will attend meetings virtually in the interim as he recovers. also key in the statement, my last hmeeting with president biden occurred tuesday, december 21st a week before i began to experience symptoms. i tested negative that very morning. i have not been in the pentagon since thursday where i met briefly and only with a few members of my staff. but secretary austin did have the vaccine and the booster imploring everyone in the military to continue to get that vaccine and booster describing it as a readiness issue. breaking news this eveni
virus, not ourselves. unlike the previous strains, it transmits very readily to the air to large numbers of people. if we wait and see, then by the time we re seeing, it s always too late to act. it is being called an unpleasant case of deja vu. the u.s. sees another covid winter surge, but this time it s the omicron variant taking over. we are just hours away from president biden s speech on the pandemic. what will he tell americans as they head into the holidays? and jury deliberations will begin in the trial of the killing of daunte wright. we ll have closing arguments in the trial of the police officer kim potter. announcer: live from london, this is cnn newsroom with isa soares. welcome, everyone. it is tuesday, december 21st, and we begin with a staggering really take over of the omicron variant in the united states. on monday, the cdc announced the highly contagious variant now accounts for more than 73% of new covid cases. now, omicron has been detecte
i m still smiling over commander in leash. yeah. we have more of those this morning. don t you worry. i can t wait. good morning to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. it is tuesday, december 21st. the omicron variant has taken over. it is now the most dominant strain of covid in the u.s., making up more than 73% of new infections. according to the cdc, they just released those numbers, that s 21 days after the first case was identified here. new york has seen a three-fold increase in covid cases in the past week. new jersey reporting the highest number of daily positive cases in almost a year. but the good news, out of both new york and new jersey and this is really important although they are rising, they are not seeing a drastic jump in hospitalizations yet. we re going to speak to a new york hospital official in a moment who will tell us they have plenty of capacity, at least for now. this is not 2020, he says. we are learning of the fi
cnn has learned the president will announce the purchase of half a billion at-home rapid tests and a new plan to distribute them free to americans who request them. this as 73% of cases in the u.s. are now the highly contagious omicron variant, outpacing delta as the dominant strain. that s up sixfold in just a week. now, so far it appears most cases of omicron are relatively mild but it s so contagious it is crippling already overwhelmed hospitals. the resurgence has the nhl on ice. the entire season will be put on hold starting tomorrow till at least after christmas. let s bring in jasmine wright in washington. the there is covid exhaustion, now there is this. the vaccine is unreachable. what is the white house plan here? reporter: well, christine, a major part of the plan is making those 500 million tests free and available to americans. now, this kind of is a reversal from the white house who made light really of sending free tests to americans when asked why they
there is good news, both new york and new jersey are not seeing a drastic increase in hospitalizations just yet. a few minutes ago, we spoke to a hospital official here in new york who says stay calm. this isn t 2020. he says they still have plenty of hospital capacity. telling you it is not a crisis. those are good things to hear. president biden, meantime, later today, he s going to lay out a new strategy to fight the covid resurgence. this strategy centering on testing. the president will announce the purchase of half a billion rapid tests along with a plan to distribute the tests, free of charge, to americans who request them. his other important message, fully vaccinated americans don t need to cancel their holiday plans despite the rising case count. joining us now, dr. peter how t hotez, dean of the national school of tropical medical at baylor college of medicine. always good to see you. let s start with what we re going to hear today from the president. 500 milli