(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 820,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 61.8% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Latest headlines:
-5 states seeing more cases than any other point in pandemic
-Biden ends travel restrictions on 8 African countries
-Omicron accounting for about 58.6% of new cases
-CDC shortens recommended isolation time for some infected patients
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Dec 28, 5:49 pm
CDC investigating 86 cruise ships for COVID-19 cases
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating 86 cruise ships operating or planning to operate in U.S. waters that have reported COVID-19 cases.
In order to meet the threshold for a CDC investigation, a ship must report COVID-19 cases in more than 0.10% of passengers or have a single crew member test positive in the previous seven days.
The CDC started by investigating 38 ships, and has now investigated 48 additional vessels, which remain “under observation.”
None of the ships have been designated as “red,” which means they haven’t reached the level of COVID-19 transmission needed to overwhelm the medical resources on board.
ABC News’ Mina Kaji
Dec 28, 3:53 pm
UCLA pulls out of bowl game
UCLA said its football team has pulled out of Tuesday night’s San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl due to COVID-19.
UCLA was set to play North Carolina State.
ABC News’ Matt Fuhrman
Dec 28, 3:22 pm
Greece sees record single-day increase
Greece reported 21,657 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday — a record 133% increase from the 9,284 new cases reported on Monday, according to government data.
Eighty-five percent of COVID-19 patients in Greece’s hospitals are not vaccinated.
ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Dec 28, 3:04 pm
US cases, hospitalizations, deaths expected to rise
Forecast models used by the CDC suggest cases, hospitalizations and deaths will rise over the next four weeks.
According to the models, the U.S. death toll could reach 862,900 by Jan. 22.
Nationally, estimates suggest between 8,700 and 20,800 Americans could be admitted to the hospital each day by Jan. 10.
These forecasts are from the COVID-19 Forecast Hub at UMass Amherst, where a team monitors and combines forecasting models from the nation’s top researchers. The team then creates an ensemble — displayed like a hurricane forecast spaghetti plot — usually with a wide cone of uncertainty.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos, Brian Hartman
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.