Covid Makes Comeback in Parts of Northeastern US

By Staff, Agencies

Covid is making its latest comeback in parts of the northeastern United States as the BA.2 variant becomes dominant in the country, officials said Wednesday, while urging Congress to pass new funding or risk the supply of future treatments and vaccines.

The country is currently registering an average of 28,600 cases per day, down well below the last peak of more than 800,000 average daily infections, seen in January.

Covid 19 deaths are running at around 900 per day - with a total of one million deaths from the disease expected within about a month.

But Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] director Rochelle Walensky told reporters there were early signs of a new wave.

"We have seen a small increase in reported Covid 19 cases in New York state and New York City and some increases in people in hospital with Covid 19 in New England, specifically where the BA.2 variant has been reaching levels above 50 percent [prevalence]," she said.

Wastewater surveillance, an early warning measure of rising cases, also showed a modest uptick of the virus in some communities around the country, she added.

The BA.2 variant does not appear to cause more severe disease than the original omicron, BA.1, nor does it seem more likely to evade immune protection - but it is more transmissible.

BA.2 currently accounts for 35 percent of cases nationally and is expected to become dominant soon.