USA

Omicron sub-variants BA.4, BA.5 make up 70% of COVID variants in U.S. – CDC

cde.news desk 6 July 2022, 17:20 · 1 min read

epa09380645 A person wearing a face mask on a quiet subway train in New York, New York, USA, 30 July 2021. Many parts of the United States are experiencing a rise in the number of the coronavirus cases as a result of the more contagious delta variant of the virus and the US' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently recommended that people who are vaccinated should still wear face masks in certain situations when inside to lessen the risk of inadvertently spreading COVID-19 to others. EPA-EFE/JUSTIN LANE

(Reuters) – The fast-spreading BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages of Omicron are estimated to make up a combined 70.1% of the coronavirus variants in the United States as of July 2, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

BA.4 and BA.5 made up 52% of U.S. variants for the week of June 25. They were added to the World Health Organization’s monitoring list in March and designated as variants of concern by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended last week that COVID-19 vaccine makers change the design of their booster shots beginning this fall to include components tailored to combat BA.4 and BA.5.

BA.4 made up 16.5% of the variants in circulation, the latest data showed, while BA.5 accounted for 53.6%.