WASHINGTON, D. C., RAW - EUROPE

* The English Premier League said on Monday it had found 94 positive COVID-19 cases among players and staff in the last week, the first week-by-week decrease in positive results for eight weeks.

* France on Monday reported 67,641 new confirmed coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period, a figure much lower than a couple of days ago, when daily additional infections were more than 200,000.

* Spain's health ministry reported a record in the national 14-day COVID-19 infection rate, as the figure climbed to 2295.8 per 100,000 people from 1775.27 registered last Thursday, before a long weekend.

* A survey of wastewater showed the Omicron variant spreading to a majority of regions of Italy in December, the government said.

* The Netherlands, under a strict lockdown for the past two weeks, will reopen primary and secondary schools on January 10 despite infections remaining high, the government announced on Monday.

AMERICAS

* The US Congress is experiencing a record rise in COVID-19 cases, with the seven-day positivity rate at a congressional test site surging to 13 per cent from just one per cent in late November, the Capitol's attending physician said.

* Canada's Ontario province announced restrictions to curb the spread of the virus as officials warned of a "tsunami" of new COVID-19 cases in the days and weeks ahead due to Omicron.

* Starbucks will require its US workers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing in order to comply with new federal mandates, the company said in an update sent to employees on Monday.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Turkey recorded 44,869 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest daily figure since late April, health ministry data showed on Monday.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

* Israel will from next week admit foreigners with presumed COVID-19 immunity from countries deemed medium-risk, partially reversing a ban imposed in late November in response to the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

* Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi and his wife Isaura have tested positive for COVID-19 and are isolating.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* The interval between receiving a second dose of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine and a booster dose in the US remains unchanged at six months, Food and Drug Administration Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock said.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* World markets got 2022 off to an optimistic start, with US and European equity markets powering higher on Monday, in parallel with rising oil prices and US Treasury yields.

GLOBAL

DEATHS 5,464,028

CASES 291,963,271

RECOVERED 255,015,782