Monday, 19 May 2025
America Age
  • Trending
  • World
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
    • Money
    • Crypto & NFTs
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion / Beauty
    • Art & Books
    • Culture
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Font ResizerAa
America AgeAmerica Age
Search
  • Trending
  • World
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
    • Money
    • Crypto & NFTs
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion / Beauty
    • Art & Books
    • Culture
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
© 2024 America Age. All Rights Reserved.
America Age > Blog > Fitness / Wellbeing > Two new Omicron subvariants are spreading quickly in New York State.
Fitness / Wellbeing

Two new Omicron subvariants are spreading quickly in New York State.

Enspirers | Editorial Board
Share
Two new Omicron subvariants are spreading quickly in New York State.
SHARE
The National Covid Memorial Wall in London is a place for victims’ families to mourn.Credit…Andrew Testa for The New York Times

The coronavirus is continuing to stalk the world at an astonishing clip, racing past a grim succession of pandemic milestones in 2022: totals of 300 million known cases around the world by early January, 400 million by early February and, as of Tuesday, half a billion.

There have almost certainly been far more infections than that among the global population of 7.9 billion, with many going undetected or unreported, and the reporting gap may only grow wider as some countries, including the United States, scale back official testing.

“That’s dangerous,” Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington, and formerly of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a recent interview. “If you don’t test, then you don’t know what variants you have.”

Regional officials with the World Health Organization recently urged African countries to ramp up testing and contact tracing, and called for some countries in the Americas to double down on efforts to increase vaccination and testing as cases remained higher in Europe. (Britain, for instance, has ended free testing.) A W.H.O. analysis also recently estimated that 65 percent of Africans had been infected with the coronavirus as of September 2021, nearly 100 times the number of confirmed cases on the continent.

The number of new cases reported around the globe each day has been declining for some time now; the average over the past week has been about 1.1 million cases a day, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. That’s about 32 percent fewer than two weeks ago.

But over the course of the pandemic, countries with limited public health resources may only have detected and confirmed a tiny fraction of the cases in their populations. And more recent figures may miss many at-home rapid test results that are never officially reported. Many people with infections are never tested at all, because they have no symptoms, or lack access to testing, or want to avoid the consequences of a positive test result, or choose not to for other reasons.

Coronavirus deaths have also been declining. The world reported about 3,800 a day on average over the past week, 23 percent fewer than two weeks ago.

Still, the director-general of the W.H.O., Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, recently said that the world remains in the acute phase of the pandemic, and many health experts agree.

Experts’ warnings have not stopped many nations from dropping their pandemic precautions almost completely in the two months since the global case count surpassed 400 million. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines in late February suggesting that most Americans could stop wearing masks, and no longer needed to maintain social distance or avoid crowded indoor spaces.

“What’s happening globally and in the U.S.,” Dr. Mokdad said, “is that people basically gave up. They just want to go back to normal life.”

That desire is threatened by the swift spread of the Omicron subvariant known as BA.2, the most transmissible version of the virus yet identified. BA.2 now accounts for the vast majority of new cases in the United States and around the world; it has spread even faster than BA.1, which helped fuel surges over the winter.

The peak of the most recent surge may have passed in some parts of Europe, but Hong Kong is still trying to escape an outbreak that began in January, and Shanghai residents are under lockdown and reporting food shortages.

“The focus on new cases is warranted,” Crystal Watson, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said in a recent interview. “What we’re seeing in China is a very extreme surge in cases, because they have not had a lot of exposure there, and the vaccine is less effective there.”

More than 5.1 billion people — about 66.4 percent of the world population — have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford. More than 1.7 billion booster shots or additional doses have been administered globally. But coverage varies starkly among regions. Africa’s rates are the lowest of any continent, with about 20 percent of people having received at least one dose.

— Adeel Hassan

TAGGED:The Washington Mail
Share This Article
Twitter Email Copy Link Print
Previous Article Kim gives North Korea’s most famous newscaster a luxury home Kim gives North Korea’s most famous newscaster a luxury home
Next Article UK plan to fly asylum-seekers to Rwanda draws outrage UK plan to fly asylum-seekers to Rwanda draws outrage

Your Trusted Source for Accurate and Timely Updates!

Our commitment to accuracy, impartiality, and delivering breaking news as it happens has earned us the trust of a vast audience. Stay ahead with real-time updates on the latest events, trends.
FacebookLike
TwitterFollow
InstagramFollow
LinkedInFollow
MediumFollow
QuoraFollow
- Advertisement -
Ad image

Popular Posts

Pusan National University Researchers Develop Novel Framework to Examine Information-Seeking Behaviors

PR NewswireBUSAN, South Korea, Aug. 23, 2022Researchers test a novel theoretical framework to examine the…

By Enspirers | Editorial Board

Hurricane Roslyn makes landfall in Mexico, avoids resorts

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hurricane Roslyn slammed into a sparsely populated stretch of Mexico’s Pacific…

By Enspirers | Editorial Board

The AP Interview: GM’s Barra stands by ambitious EV pledge

NEW YORK (AP) — The economy is a bit wobbly, but General Motors CEO Mary…

By Enspirers | Editorial Board

‘Étoile’ evaluation: Amy Sherman-Palladino brings us to the ballet

Gilmore Ladies and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creator Amy Sherman-Palladino delivers a pleasant new TV…

By Enspirers | Editorial Board

You Might Also Like

Incorporating Day by day Motion: Suggestions for All Ranges on Busy Days
Fitness / Wellbeing

Incorporating Day by day Motion: Suggestions for All Ranges on Busy Days

By Enspirers | Editorial Board
7 Superb Well being Advantages of Beetroot
Fitness / Wellbeing

7 Superb Well being Advantages of Beetroot

By Enspirers | Editorial Board
20 Weight-reduction plan Success Ideas (Half 2: 11-20)
Fitness / Wellbeing

20 Weight-reduction plan Success Ideas (Half 2: 11-20)

By Enspirers | Editorial Board
72-Hour Weight Loss: The Final 3-Day Food plan Plan
Fitness / Wellbeing

72-Hour Weight Loss: The Final 3-Day Food plan Plan

By Enspirers | Editorial Board
America Age
Facebook Twitter Youtube

About US


America Age: Your instant connection to breaking stories and live updates. Stay informed with our real-time coverage across politics, tech, entertainment, and more. Your reliable source for 24/7 news.

Company
  • About Us
  • Newsroom Policies & Standards
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Careers
  • Media & Community Relations
  • WP Creative Group
  • Accessibility Statement
Contact Us
  • Contact Us
  • Contact Customer Care
  • Advertise
  • Licensing & Syndication
  • Request a Correction
  • Contact the Newsroom
  • Send a News Tip
  • Report a Vulnerability
Terms of Use
  • Digital Products Terms of Sale
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Settings
  • Submissions & Discussion Policy
  • RSS Terms of Service
  • Ad Choices
© 2024 America Age. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?