Vaccinated and boosted Today anchor Hoda Kotb, 57, reveals she has tested positive for COVID - but insists she is 'feeling good' as she misses a second day of the morning show

• The mother-of-two was absent from the Today show on Wednesday and Thursday - with her co-anchors revealing this morning that she has COVID-19
• Kotb filmed live in the studio on Tuesday; is it not known whether any other staff on the NBC show have tested positive, however all other anchors are still on-air
• The Today star took to Twitter to update her fans after the news of her positive test result was shared by her co-host Craig Melvin 
• Kotb, who is currently isolating at home, said that she is 'feeling good', adding that she 'can't wait to see you all when she is in the clear' 
• The TV personality spent the holidays at home with adopted daughters, Haley Joy and Hope Catherine, fiance Joel Schiffman, mom Sameha, and sister Hala
• It is not known whether any of her family members have tested positive  
• On Monday, the US recorded a record one million new COVID cases, however on Tuesday the number had fallen to 869,187

Today show anchor Hoda Kotb has tested positive for COVID and is isolating at home, it was revealed on Thursday, as the TV host was absent from the morning show for the second day in a row. 

The 57-year-old - who is fully vaccinated and has received a booster shot - was last seen on the Today show on Tuesday morning, however she was absent on Wednesday, sparking questions about her whereabouts. 

Those questions were answered this morning when Kotb's co-host, Craig Melvin, informed viewers about the mother-of-two's breakthrough COVID case - adding that she is 'doing just fine'. 

'We should mention here before we get to the news, the reason Hoda is off, like many others, she tested positive for COVID,' he announced. 

'But Hoda tells us she is doing just fine and we look forward to having her back very, very soon.'  

After the news of her COVID case was shared on-air, Kotb herself took to Twitter to thank fans for their 'well wishes', revealing that she is 'feeling good' and that she 'can't wait' to return to the studio 'when she is in the clear'. 

The Today anchor's positive test result comes after she spent the holiday season at home with her two adopted daughters, Haley Joy, four, and Hope Catherine, two, her fiance Joel Schiffman, her mother Sameha, and her sister Hala. 

It is not known whether any of her family members have tested positive. 

Kotb was last seen filming in the studio on Tuesday, when she offered no indication that she was feeling unwell. 

It is not thought that any of her fellow Today hosts have tested positive; Savannah Guthrie, Jenna Bush Hager, Craig Melvin, Al Roker, and Sheinelle Jones are all still filming in the studio. 

On Monday, the US recorded a record one million new COVID cases - with the CDC confirming on Wednesday that the wildly transmissible Omicron variant, which appears milder particularly among vaccinated individuals, is fueling the surge in cases. 

The number of new reported cases fell to 869,187 on Tuesday, down from the record set on Monday but higher than any other day since the pandemic began; that statistic fell once again on Wednesday, when there were more than 585,000 new cases recorded. 

On Wednesday, CDC director Rochelle Walensky confirmed that the agency estimates that the Omicron variant now represents 95 per cent of all cases across the US, and Delta makes up the remaining five per cent. 

'The sharp rise in cases and the emergence of the more transmissable Omicron variant emphasizes the importance of vaccinations and boosters,' she said.

'This week, the FDA made several vaccine authorizations and the CDC followed these authorizations to make additional vaccine recommendations.'

This includes shortening the window between the second dose of a Pfizer vaccine and a booster shot to five months, down from six months. 

The country's seven-day rolling average of new cases stood at 565,042, a 114 per cent increase from a week ago, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

However, deaths remain relatively low, with 2,384 new deaths on Tuesday, a decline of 13 per cent from week-ago levels on a rolling average basis. Hospitalizations are rising, but remain well below their peak last January.  

In the UK, which is a few weeks ahead of the US in the surge, more than three million people in England had COVID on New Years Eve, or roughly one person in every 15, the Office for National Statistics estimated. However, there were 'early signs' that infections are already peaking in London, the epicenter of the current wave. 

Models from Columbia University and the University of Washington's Institute of Health Metrics and evaluation project US peaks in late January before cases decline. 

Kotb revealed on Instagram on March 31, 2021 that she had received her first dose of the COVID vaccine; she got her second dose on April 28. 

Shortly before getting her first shot, the Today anchor spoke to People about her desire to get vaccinated, explaining that she wanted to protect not only herself but her family members and the public. 

'This is who I'm getting vaccinated for when it's my turn: First, for my mother, who's in her 80s; for my fiancé, Joel; for my two children, and for every single person who I pass by, who I walk by and who I see,' she said. 

'So I am getting vaccinated not only for my family, but for yours too.'

Last month, Kotb raised speculation among Today viewers after taking a week-long absence from the morning show - with many questioning whether she was missing from the airwaves because she had adopted a third child, something that she has been very open about wanting to do.  

However, upon her return to the screen, Kotb revealed that she had actually spent the week on a phoneless retreat, telling co-host Hager that she realized she is 'happier' without her phone and planned on only using it for necessities in the future. 

'I went to this retreat where they take your phone away. That was one of the things, and I gotta tell you, Jenna, like of all the things... I know that I'm like most people, you have your phone nearby,' she explained, adding that her break from her phone made her realize how addicted people are to them.

'After going almost 10 days without it, it was so funny because at the end I walked out into the world, and what I noticed was everybody was hunched over a phone, and no judgment, because me too, right?' she said.

'But I looked around, I was like every single person is hunched. And if you had slept for 30 years like Rapunzel...you would know that when you woke up and you looked around then everyone is looking at this tiny box and holding it like it's gold. And, "Where is it?" And if they lose it they're freaking.

'And I was looking around and I asked myself the simplest question because I was thinking what will I do. And I said, "Was I happier with it or happier without it?" And I was happier without it.'

The Today anchor noted that she has a job and can't completely give up her cellphone, but she wants to minimize her screen time as much as possible.