There have been cases of Omicron detected in at least 40 countries now, up from 24 on Friday.
Here's the latest on the pandemic from around the world.
Europe
Europe crossed 75 million confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday. Europe is currently the pandemic's epicentre, with 66 out of every 100 new infections each day coming from European countries.
Italy
A man who wanted a vaccination certificate without getting the jab showed up with a fake arm, officials said. BBC News reports the man, in his 50s, arrived with a silicone mould covering his real arm. But nurses weren't fooled, and reported him to the police.
Italy reported 74 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday against 72 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 17,030 from 16,806.
Belgium
Belgium tightened its coronavirus restrictions for the third consecutive week on Friday to fight one of Europe's worst spikes of COVID-19 cases.
Ireland
The Irish government on Friday announced strict new limits on the hospitality sector and home visits as it moved to push down COVID-19 infection rates after officials warned the new Omicron variant was likely to add to pressure on the health service.
Greece
Greece will offer all adults COVID-19 booster shots three months after they have had their second vaccine shot or tested positive for the virus, down from six months now, to help protect them from the emergent Omicron variant, officials said on Friday.
UK
Retailers in England said on Tuesday they were again asking shoppers to wear masks but said they could not be expected to enforce the new law, fearing abuse of their staff.
British supermarket group Sainsbury's has postponed all Christmas parties until the new year due to the emergence of the coronavirus Omicron variant.
Britain on Friday reported 50,584 further cases of COVID-19 and 143 more deaths.
France
France reported 113 more deaths.
Norway
At least 13 people in Oslo have been infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus following a corporate Christmas party in the capital, and more cases are expected to be confirmed, local authorities said on Friday.
Russia
Russia's COVID-19 death toll has reached at least 578,020, the third worst in the world, according to Reuters calculations based on official statistics for October, the country's deadliest month so far. Russia's COVID-19 death rate of almost 400 per 100,000 people is worse than the United States and Brazil, which have much bigger populations.
Some epidemiologists say that measuring excess mortality is a meaningful way to assess the true impact of the pandemic. Russia recorded around 725,000 excess deaths since the beginning of the outbreak to the end of October.
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific countries should boost their healthcare capacity and fully vaccinate their people to prepare for a surge in COVID-19 cases fuelled by the Omicron variant, officials at the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
Singapore
Singapore reported 766 new cases and nine deaths.
Australia
Despite restrictions on international visitors, Australia became the latest country on Friday to report community transmission of Omicron.
India
India expects the Omicron variant of coronavirus to cause less severe disease, the health ministry said on Friday, thanks to vaccinations and high prior exposure to the Delta variant that infected nearly 70 percent of the population by July. Omicron is able to reinfect people much easier than previous strains of the virus, however.
Middle East and Africa
South Africa
South Africa is being hit by a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections driven by the Omicron variant which has been detected in seven of the country's nine provinces, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said on Friday.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe has identified 50 cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant, deputy health minister John Mangwiro said on Friday, as the Government announced it would start offering booster shots to frontline workers, the elderly and people with chronic illnesses.
Americas
US
A sixth US state - Nebraska - reported the Omicron variant of the coronavirus after detecting six confirmed cases of the highly contagious strain, the state's health department said on Friday. Only one of the six people was vaccinated.
US President Joe Biden said he is being tested for COVID-19 every day.
Canada
Canada has discovered a total of 11 cases of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 and severe illness trends across the country could start to rise again, chief public health officer Theresa Tam told reporters on Friday.
Mexico
The first case of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been confirmed in Mexico, the deputy health minister said on Friday, sparking concerns a new spike in infections could follow.
Vaccines and research
The WHO's chief scientist on Friday urged people not to panic over the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant and said it was too early to say if vaccines would be need to be reworked.
The adenovirus used by the AstraZeneca vaccine to shuttle the coronavirus' genetic material into cells could be behind the rare cases of blood clots linked to the otherwise effective vaccine, scientists have found.
BioNTech should be able to adapt its coronavirus vaccine relatively quickly in response to the Omicron variant, and the next few weeks will show how urgently an upgrade is needed, its CEO Ugur Sahin told the Reuters Next conference on Friday.
Non-severe COVID-19 during pregnancy has no visible effect on the baby's brain, according to a small study presented on Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
Although people with cancer generally do not have the typical strong immune response to COVID-19 vaccines, they still benefit from the shots, according to new data.
Reuters / Newshub.
