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A surge in COVID-19 cases in South Africa fueled by two new subvariants of omicron has raised concerns that they are even more transmissible than the BA.2 strain which has been dominant in the U.S. since early April.
The BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants have led to a tripling of cases in South Africa in the latest week and an increase in hospitalizations, the New York Times reported.
The BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants have been detected in the U.S. too, according to Outbreak.info, which aggregates data on the pandemic on a shared platform, although for now the numbers are very small. As of April 29, just 10 BA.4 cases had been detected in the U.S. compared with 315 in South Africa. There were just 5 cases of BA.5, compared with 104 in South Africa.
Data from South Africa is showing that BA.4 and BA.5 evade the protection created by an infection with the original omicron, called BA.1, resulting in symptomatic infections, the Times reported. But for now, it’s unclear whether the two new subvariants are creating more severe illness.
The news comes as COVID cases continue to rise again in the U.S. after their steep decline early in the year, driven by BA.2 and two other subvariants that appear to be even more infectious. The two, named BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1, were highlighted by health officials in New York State recently.
The U.S. is averaging 56,700 cases a day, according to a New York Times tracker, up 51% from two weeks ago. The country is averaging 17,248 hospitalizations a day, up 16% from two weeks ago, but still close to the lowest since the first weeks of the pandemic. The daily death toll has fallen below 400 to 320 on average.
“We’re at an awkward global moment where the past can’t really predict the future,” Dr. Kavita Patel, a primary care physician who led the Obama administration’s response for the H1N1 swine flu virus, told the newspaper.
In other medical news, Pfizer
PFE,
said its COVID-19 pill Paxlovid failed to reduce the risk of spreading the virus to household contacts. The drug maker had been testing Paxlovid as a post-exposure prophylactic in Phase 2/3 clinical trial. The drug did reduce the risks of spreading a confirmed and symptomatic COVID-19 infection; however, the results were not statistically significant.
Coronavirus Update: MarketWatch’s daily roundup has been curating and reporting all the latest developments every weekday since the coronavirus pandemic began
Other COVID-19 news you should know about:
•Restaurants in Beijing have been ordered to close dine-in services over the May holidays as the Chinese capital grapples with a COVID-19 outbreak, the Associated Press reported. Restaurants have been ordered to only provide takeout services from Sunday to Wednesday, during China’s Labor Day holidays. Beijing began mass testing millions of residents earlier this week as it scrambled to stamp out a growing COVID-19 outbreak. Beijing is trying to prevent a massive outbreak that could trigger a citywide lockdown like the one that has paralyzed Shanghai for more than three weeks. Millions of residents there have been under lockdown and food has run low at times, prompting criticism despite government efforts to censor it.
• The COVID lockdowns have already dented manufacturing activity in China, with the monthly purchasing managers index falling to a six-month low in April, according to a separate AP report. index, released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, fell to 47.4 in April, down from 49.5 in March on a 100-point scale. Numbers below 50 show activity contracting. The trend is also showing up in corporate announcements; NIO Inc. and Li Auto Inc. reported sharp drops in April deliveries, with both citing supply chain challenges resulting from a new wave of COVID-19 outbreaks.
See now: U.S. factories grow in April at slowest pace in 18 months, ISM finds
• Italy and Greece relaxed some COVID-19 restrictions on Sunday before Europe’s peak summer tourist season, in a sign that life was increasingly returning to normal, the AP reported. Greece’s civil aviation authority announced that it was lifting all COVID-19 rules for international and domestic flights except for the wearing of face masks during flights and at airports. Previously, air travelers were required to show proof of vaccination, a negative test or a recent recovery from the disease. Under a decree passed by Italy’s health ministry, the country did away with the health pass that had been required to enter restaurants, cinemas, gyms and other venues. The green pass, which showed proof of vaccination, recovery from the virus or a recent negative test, is still required to access hospitals and nursing homes.
• New Zealand welcomed tourists from the U.S., Canada, Britain, Japan and more than 50 other countries for the first time in more than two years Monday after dropping most of its remaining pandemic border restrictions. The country has long been renowned for its breathtaking scenery and adventure tourism offerings such as bungy jumping and skiing. Before the spread of COVID-19, more than 3 million tourists visited each year, accounting for 20% of New Zealand’s foreign income and more than 5% of the overall economy.
Here’s what the numbers say
The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 513.9 million on Friday, while the death toll rose above 6.23 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. leads the world with 81.4 million cases and 993,735 fatalities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracker shows that 219.7 million people living in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, equal to 66.2% of the total population. But just 100.7 million are boosted, equal to 45.8% of the vaccinated population.
