Omicron Variant Threatens US: President Biden Promises More COVID-19 Tests, Fauci Recommends Not Celebrating New Year

Illustration of a COVID-19 vaccination in New York, United States. (Wikimedia Commons/Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York)

JAKARTA - The United States (US) President Joe Biden on Monday pledged to address the problem of a shortage of COVID-19 tests, amid the threat of an Omicron variant that will increase hospital burdens, hampering travel this holiday week.

"Seeing how difficult it is for some people to get tests this weekend, shows we need more work to do," President Biden said, citing Reuters on December 28.

President Biden further said his government's steps include using the Defense Production Act to increase in-house test manufacturing, including making it easier to use Google's search engine to find the nearest test location.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was shortening the recommended time for isolation of Americans with COVID-19 to five days, as long as they are asymptomatic, from the previous guide of 10 days.

US and state officials are bracing for a wave of more cases after the Christmas holidays, with hospitalizations continuing and New Year's celebrations yet to come.

Over the past seven days, the average number of new cases has jumped 55% to an average of more than 205.000 new infections per day, according to a Reuters tally.

Meanwhile, the number of hospitalized COVID patients has increased by 3 percent over the same period. Overall in December, the average number of new cases increased by 143 percent and hospitalizations rose 31 percent.

President Biden warned governors the spike in cases might overwhelm some hospitals, straining staff and equipment such as ventilators, especially in areas where fewer people are being vaccinated.

He declined to answer reporters' questions about whether he supported a vaccine mandate for domestic air travel, another move that officials have discussed.

For New Year's Eve on Friday, officials said people who were vaccinated could safely gather with their families, but those larger celebrations were riskier.

Infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci urged people to avoid large New Year's gatherings.

"When we talk about New Year's Eve parties. I would highly recommend staying away from it this year. There will be other years to do that, but not this year," he told CNN.

"We really still have to be very careful," he said separately on MSNBC.

Rising cases disrupted air travel over the Christmas weekend, with thousands of flights canceled as flight crews contracted the virus. Restricted shipping and limited test availability hampered other plans due to the more easily transmissible variant.

For information, US airlines canceled nearly 1.000 flights on Monday, or became the fourth day of cancellations in a row.