BA.5 skyrockets in US, now accounting for 78% of cases

The omicron coronaviruses subvariant BA.5 is accounting for 78 percent of the country's cases and is on the rise.

The breakneck takeover is stunning, with BA.5 showing a significant growth advantage over all other lineages and sublineages. In the US, that seems to include BA.4, which shares the same spike protein mutations but has differing mutations elsewhere in its genome.

Less than 10 percent of cases were accounted for by BA.5 at the beginning of June, with BA.4 accounting for an estimated 6.4 percent. BA.5 has risen to 78 percent while BA.4 has fallen to 12.8 percent.

According to an analysis by The Washington Post, BA.4 and BA.5 are now collectively dominant around the world. The data from the international repository shows that BA.4/5 accounts for 69 percent of the total.

There have been 27 percent more cases and 34 percent more deaths in the last two weeks. In the US, cases are up 20 percent, hospitalizations are up 20 percent, and intensive care unit admissions are up 19 percent.

“Still in this”

More than 97 percent of US counties have high or substantial levels of the disease. Roughly 75% of US counties are at high or medium levels according to the agency's "COVID-19 Community Levels" metric. The CDC recommends masking in indoor public settings when a small number of counties are designated at high levels.

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In the US and elsewhere, case counts are likely to be a significant undercount, given that many government testing efforts have pulled back.

The World Health Organization's technical lead for COVID-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, emphasized in a video published Tuesday that data is becoming increasingly limited.

More than 5 million cases were reported to the World Health Organization last week. It's an underestimate because of the decline in surveillance activities around the world.

The virus can still spread to unvaccinated people and evolve into new versions.

Hundreds of millions, if not billions of people, who have not received a full course of vaccine yet, are at increased risk of severe disease and death.

She said that people should be trying to reduce spread. It means that people spend more time outside than indoors. You can work from home when you are sick. It's not just about you, we are still in this epidemic.