California nearing 5 mn Covid cases

Sacramento: California health officials say the omicron variant is evident in 50 per cent to 70 per cent of new coronavirus cases in parts of the most populous state heading into the holidays, with the state nearing a total of 5 million virus infections for the pandemic.

The US recorded its first confirmed omicron infection just three weeks ago in a San Francisco resident who had recently travelled to South Africa. On Friday, the state had 4,990,016 confirmed coronavirus cases to date and more than 75,000 deaths from COVID-19, the disease that can be caused by the virus.

Case reporting is expected to lag because of the holidays.

Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris tested

negative Friday for the coronavirus following her close contact earlier this week with

an aide who later tested positive, her office said.

Harris, who is spending the holidays in Los Angeles, had tested negative Wednesday after she was told that the aide who had accompanied her throughout the day Tuesday had tested positive.

Her office said she would be tested again Friday. A pair of tests a rapid test and a more sensitive laboratory test found no trace of the coronavirus, her office said.

Harris is fully vaccinated, has received a booster COVID-19 vaccine dose and is regularly tested under White House COVID-19 protocols. She is to be tested again on Monday.

The aide also is fully vaccinated and boosted, and had tested negative earlier this week and every day during the prior week, Harris' office said.

Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, on Friday delivered doughnuts and holiday greetings to the firefighters at Los Angeles Fire Department Station 94. "You are so special and we really do appreciate you and we thank you," she told them. Emhoff also tested

negative on Friday, Harris' office said.