The U.S. national public health agency said on Monday the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron was estimated to account for nearly three of every four coronavirus variants in the country.
Overall COVID-19 cases in the United States have dropped sharply after hitting record levels in January, but a resurgence in cases in parts of Asia and Europe has raised concerns that another wave could follow in the United States. The country's health experts, however, believe it is unlikely.
The seven-day moving average of U.S. COVID cases was 26,106 as of April 1, marginally lower than 26,309 from a week earlier, as per data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .The highly transmissible BA.2 sub-variant makes up 72.2% of the COVID variants in the United States, as of April 2, up from nearly 57.3% in the preceding week, according to CDC estimates.
BA.2 now makes up about 86% of all sequenced cases globally, according to the World Health Organization. It is known to be more transmissible than the BA.1 and BA.1.1 Omicron sub-variants, however, the evidence so far suggests that it is no more likely to cause severe disease.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
XE COVID variant: New highly transmissible variant is combo of BA.1 and BA.2XE COVID variant: A new highly transmissible variant is a combo of BA.1 and BA.2.
Read more »
What We Know About Omicron’s BA.2 Variant So FarAs this latest version of SARS-CoV-2 sweeps the planet, pandemic-weary people everywhere are asking the same question: Is society doomed to confront a succession of new viral variants, each one more contagious than the last?
Read more »
The more contagious BA.2 version of omicron is now the most common in the U.S.The BA.2 strain now accounts for more than half of all coronavirus infections nationwide, the CDC estimates. Although it's fueling a surge in Europe, the variant doesn't appear to make people sicker.
Read more »
New COVID variant discovered: What is known so far about XE strainA newly discovered XE COVID-19 variant is considered to be highly transmissible and contains a combination of genetic material from the BA.1 and BA.2 variants of omicron.
Read more »
New COVID-19 subvariant leading to increase in cases, but expert says it’s not as severeThe Center for Disease Control and Prevention says Florida saw a 16% increase in COVID-19 cases in the week ending on Thursday.
Read more »
XE COVID variant: New highly transmissible variant is combo of BA.1 and BA.2XE COVID variant: A new highly transmissible variant is a combo of BA.1 and BA.2.
Read more »