Nearly 10,000 died from COVID-19 last month, fueled by holiday gatherings and new variant, WHO says

The head of the U.N. health agency says holiday gatherings and the spread of the most prominent variant globally led to increased transmission of COVID-19 last month. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says nearly 10,000 deaths were reported in December, while hospital admissions during the month jumped 42% in nearly 50 countries — mostly in Europe and the Americas — that shared such trend information. He says the JN.1 variant is now the most prominent in the world and it's certain that COVID cases are rising in countries that didn't report data to WHO. Agency officials expect COVID and other respiratory diseases to continue spreading through the northern hemisphere's winter.