Good morning. It is Saturday, December 25th, but I figure you already knew that. Merry Christmas. I'm Ali Velshi. A spike in COVID cases across the country is hanging heavily over this holiday season. We've still got more questions and answers when it comes to the Omicron virus virus. So this morning, we're going to try and bring you some clarity.

The current seven-day average of new daily cases is about 122,300, with an average of about 1,180 deaths per day.

But there is some good news.

This week, the FDA authorized two antiviral pills

from Pfizer and Merck to treat COVID-19 at home for at-risk Americans. Now, that's a game

changer because before these pills were cleared, the only FDA authorized treatment for non-hospitalized

COVID-19 patients was monoclonal antibodies, which are hard to come by.

Merck says it will have 10 million medicine packs available by the end of the month. Pfizer says

it's ready to roll out its treatment immediately, although in limited quantities. Now, the Pfizer

drug is almost certainly going to be the preferred option as it has a nearly 90% reduction

rate in hospitalizations and deaths, while the FDA says the Merck pill could lead to a 30%

reduction and is not recommended for pregnant people or women planning to become pregnant.

In other news, Americans may soon not have to wait in line for hours just to get a COVID

test. The White House says it's planning to distribute 500 million COVID tests and is creating a

government-run website where you'll be able to order the home test kits for free. Now, the details of how

that's going to work are a little murky. The White House says distribution could begin as soon as

next month. Now, mathematically, that comes out to about one and a half tests per person, not nearly

enough, but it could be a sign of what's to come. Meanwhile, new studies from South Africa and the

United Kingdom have found that people infected with the Omicron variant are between 50 and 80 percent less likely to land in the hospital

than those who'd been infected with other strains such as Delta. And another potentially good sign

is that positive cases of COVID-19 in South Africa are plunging almost as quickly as they rose.

Now, while South Africa was the first country

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