The omicron sublines, called BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, continued to spread in the U.S. during the week through Oct. 29, accounting for 27.1% of new cases nationwide, according to Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
They accounted for 42.5% of all cases in the New York area, which includes New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, up from 37% the previous week. That was more than the omicron BA.5 subvariant, which accounted for 35.7% of new cases in the New York area in the past week.
The omicron BA.5 subvariant accounted for 49.6% of all cases in the US, the data show.
BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 were included in the BA.5 data variants as recently as three weeks ago because their numbers were too small to release. BQ.1 was first identified by researchers in early September and has been found in the UK and Germany, among other places.
The World Health Organization said last week that BQ.1 and another subline, dubbed XBB, do not appear to have immune mutations that warrant designation as variants of concern. However, BA.5 is still an option of concern and one to watch closelysays the statement of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus..
Factory workers assembling Apple Inc
AAPL,
iPhones in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou appear to have left to avoid the curbs of COVID-19, with many traveling on foot for days after an unknown number of employees were quarantined at the facility following the virus outbreak. This was reported by the Associated Press.
Videos circulating on Chinese social media show people purported to be Foxconn workers climbing over fences and carrying their belongings along the road.
Visitors to Shanghai Disneyland separately remained withtrand at the park on Monday after the resort shut down operations under COVID-19 restrictions amid a new outbreak of the virus.
In the US, the number of known cases of COVID continues to decline and is now at its lowest level since mid-April, although the true number is likely higher given how many people in general are being tested at home, where data is not collected.
On Sunday, the daily average number of new cases was 36,869 the New York Times tracker, down 2% from two weeks ago. The daily average number of hospitalizations rose 3% to 27,415, while the daily average number of deaths fell 6% to 352.
The latest data on the coronavirus: Daily MarketWatch has been monitoring and reporting on the latest developments every weekday since the start of the coronavirus pandemic
Other COVID-19 news you should know:
• This week will see results from fintech companies and vaccine makers as the low earnings season is halfway through, amid questions about consumer spending as well as demand for COVID-19 drugs. This was reported by Bill Peters of MarketWatch. Pfizer Inc.
PFE,
to report earnings on Tuesday, followed by Moderna Inc.
mRNA,
on Thursday. Analysts will be watching the state of sales of the COVID-19 vaccine and treatment and what executives expect for the rest of the year as they prepare for the private market for COVID-19 drugs and as more people avoid the pandemic. Pfizer executives said on a call last week that they designed to bid between $110 and $130 per vial of single-dose vaccine for adults in the US when government purchases run out. But they said they believe anyone with health insurance should pay nothing out of pocket.
The FDA has cleared recently modified COVID-19 accelerators to target the latest versions of the omicron variant. But as the WSJ’s Daniela Hernandez explains, these new images have changed a key part of the decision-making process. Photo: Laura Kammermann
• Many young children are being hospitalized for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, at an unusual time of year and among older children than in years past. This was reported by Jamie Lee of MarketWatch. COVID may be a contributing factor, in part because many children were not exposed to RSV last season, but also because previous infection or exposure to COVID can change how a child’s immune system responds to RSV and can lead to more severe disease with -for RSV infections, according to Asuncion Mejias, principal investigator of the Center for Vaccines and Immunity at Nationwide Children’s Hospital Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio.
• On Saturday, more than 3,000 people took part in South Africa’s first Pride since the COVID pandemic, celebrating the LGBT community and defying a US warning of a possible terrorist attack in the area. AP reports. The US government this week warned of a possible attack in the Sandton area of Johannesburg, where the march took place. The South African government expressed concern that the US had not shared enough information to lend credibility to the alleged threat. The police said that all measures have been taken to ensure security in the area.
That’s what the numbers say:
The global number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Monday exceeded 630.2 million and the death toll exceeded 6.58 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The US leads the world with 97.5 million cases and 1,070,266 deaths.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracker shows that 226.9 million people living in the US, or 68.4% of the total population, are fully immunized, meaning they have received the primary vaccination.
So far, only 22.8 million Americans have received an updated COVID booster targeting the original virus and omicron variants, which is 7.3% of the total population.
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