Children under the age of five have tested positive for the new Omicron variant in South Africa, but health officials say infections have been mild so far.
Here's the latest on the pandemic from around the world.
Europe
Tens of thousands of protesters marched through several northwest European cities on Saturday to demonstrate against new restrictions imposed amid a surge in coronavirus infections.
Italy
Italy has reported 75 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday (local time) compared to 74 the day prior, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell from 17,030 to 16,632.
Italy has registered 134,152 deaths linked to COVID-19 since February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth-highest in the world. It has reported more than 5 million cases to date.
Netherlands
Dutch health authorities announced on Saturday that the final tally of passengers who had tested positive for the Omicron coronavirus variant after arriving on two flights from South Africa last week was 18.
Austria
More than 40,000 people marched through Vienna on Saturday to protest against a lockdown and plans to make vaccinations compulsory to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
Faced with a surge in infections, the government last month made Austria the first country in Western Europe to reimpose a lockdown and said it would make vaccinations mandatory from February.
As crowds gathered, people carried signs saying "I will decide for myself", "Make Austria Great Again" and "New Elections" - a nod to the political turmoil that has seen three chancellors within two months.
Belgium
Two hippos have tested positive for COVID-19 at Antwerp Zoo in Belgium in what could be the first reported cases in the species, zoo staff said.
Hippos Imani, aged 14, and 41-year-old Hermien have no symptoms apart from a runny nose, but the zoo said the pair had been put into quarantine as a precaution.
UK
The United Kingdom has tightened its travel restrictions as Omicron continues to spread. Travellers heading to the UK will now need to have a COVID-19 test before their departure, with Health Secretary Sajid Javid saying the stricter requirements will come into force on Tuesday.
People currently only need to self-isolate until they return a negative test within two days of arriving.
Britain on Saturday reported 42,848 new COVID-19 cases and a further 127 deaths.
Germany
Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans on Saturday to get vaccinated against COVID-19 to help turn the tide on a fourth wave of cases that she said had become "dramatic" in parts of the country.
"We are in a very serious situation. In some parts of the country you can only describe it as dramatic: overfilled intensive care units, severely ill people who have to be flown across Germany to get the care they need," she said.
In Frankfurt, police broke up a demonstration of several hundred people for failing to wear masks or maintain social distancing, using batons and pepper spray after they were attacked by a group of protesters.
Asia-Pacific
Australia
The Omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread in Australia, which has put plans to reopen the economy under pressure as the cluster in Sydney grew to 13 cases and an infection was suspected in Queensland.
India
India has reported its third case of the Omicron variant on Saturday, government officials said, as the country's COVID-19 case total inched closer to the 35 million mark.
Officials in the western state of Gujarat said the patient who tested positive for Omicron was a 72-year-old man of Indian origin who had returned on November 28 after living in Zimbabwe for decades.
India reported 8603 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, taking its total to 34.62 million. Deaths rose by 415 to 470,530.
Americas
Brazil
The mayor of Rio de Janeiro has cancelled New Year's Eve celebrations after Brazil, Latin America’s biggest country, confirmed the first known cases of the Omicron variant. Eduardo Paes tweeted on Saturday that he would follow the recommendations of Rio de Janeiro state to cancel the celebrations, despite the city's own view to the contrary.
US
About 15 people who attended an anime convention in New York with a Minnesota man who later was found to have the Omicron variant have also tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the New York Times.
Six more US states confirmed their first cases of the Omicron variant, but health officials said the highly contagious Delta variant will likely remain the greater threat as they prepare for winter.
The Washington Post reported that researchers had found a link between the Omicron variant and the common cold. It said a new study by Nference found the variant is likely to have picked up genetic material from another virus that causes the common cold in humans.
The US recorded 147,434 new cases and 1352 coronavirus-related deaths.
Canada
Ontario reported another 1053 cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, the highest daily case count in half a year and the second day in a row where Ontario's case count has topped 1000.
Africa
South Africa
South Africa is experiencing higher hospital admissions among children during a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections that has been driven by the Omicron variant, but health officials said that this should not prompt panic as infections have been mild.
"The incidence in those under five is now second highest, second only to those over 60," government adviser Waasila Jassat said. "The trend that we're seeing now, that is different to what we've seen before, is a particular increase in hospital admissions in children under five years."
Zambia
Zambia has detected its first cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in three people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week, the health ministry said.
The three cases are a man living in the district around the capital Lusaka who travelled abroad recently and is showing mild symptoms, a man in Chibombo District who also travelled abroad recently but is asymptomatic, and a woman in Lusaka District who had not travelled abroad recently and had mild symptoms.
Reuters / Newshub.
