With its COVID-19 death toll now well past 800,000, the United States is facing into another tough winter as it battles the deadly disease.Cases of the Omicron variant are surging across the country with numbers climbing from coast to coast. President Biden is set to confront the issue in a Tuesday address. Meanwhile, countries like the UK are seeing a spike in new cases too. And, some European countries are introducing new restrictions.

To discuss:

• Peter Chin-Hong is a professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.
• Joseph Williams is a former senior news editor at U.S. News & World Report. 
• Dr. Chris Smith is a consultant clinical virologist at University of Cambridge. 
• Dr. Julian Tang is is a consultant virologist at Leicester Royal Infirmary.

For more: 

Michigan doctors, nurses getting hit, yelled at, spit on in COVID-19 surge https://t.co/uCt9AmWcbT

— Detroit Free Press (@freep) December 20, 2021

The Biden administration is pushing back the date by which large businesses must comply with its Covid-19 vaccine mandate as legal uncertainty continues to hang over the requirement. https://t.co/p3LZAWv9h7

— WSJ Health (@WSJhealth) December 20, 2021

“Pubs are facing disaster” as confusion reigns over the Christmas season in the UK.

Read the story from business owners like Sam Harrison at @samsriversideW6 in London here.https://t.co/Ke3JfNlTtn pic.twitter.com/cmRJLfhPjm

— CGTN Europe (@CGTNEurope) December 20, 2021

The Netherlands went into lockdown and the possibility of more COVID-19 restrictions being imposed ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays loomed over several European countries as the Omicron variant spreads rapidly https://t.co/t24gohXfXV

— Reuters (@Reuters) December 20, 2021