COVID-19 Case Study The situation is escalating again as new variants begin to emerge in various regions globally. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization reported an Increase in cases. This is primarily concentrated in the eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific region.
Airport Screening In the US has identified new variants in travelers landing in California, Washington, Virginia, and New York from these affected areas.
The newly identified variant is named NB.1.8.1. This comes as the official US policy regarding Covid-19 vaccinations is shifting. On Tuesday, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made an announcement stating that Covid-19 vaccinations are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women. This has rapidly faced skepticism from several public health experts.
By mid-May, the prevalence of emerging variants globally had reached nearly 11% of reported sequence samples. WHO has classified it as a “surveillance variant”; Low public health risks at the world level. Current vaccines are anticipated to remain effective.
AP Audio: A new variant of Covid-19 may be driving cases in some parts of the world.
Associated Press Jennifer King reports that health officials worldwide indicate that newer, more infectious community variants are driving the case counts.
The WHO has stated that several Western Pacific nations are seeing an uptick in community cases and hospital admissions, but so far, there is no evidence suggesting that the illness linked to the new variant is more severe than that caused by previous variants.
The variant known as Lp.8.1 is presently the dominant strain in both the US and worldwide.
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Source: apnews.com