This followed increases in several European countries such as Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, and Asian countries such as Hong Kong, China and South Korea.
Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top infectious disease expert, said with the growing popularity of BA.2, he expected cases to increase within the next month, the report said.
“I would expect that we could see an increase in cases here in the US because, just a week ago, the CDC released their revision of the indicators for what would be recommended for masking in the home and many countries are right now. Now it’s in that area where there’s no need to cover the face indoors,” he told ABC affiliate KGTV.
Fauci added that he believes BA.2 will become the dominant variant in the country, surpassing the original omicron variant, the report said.
In the UK, 93,943 cases were recorded last week, according to Johns Hopkins University, more than double the 45,303 cases recorded two weeks earlier.
“Europe is an important indication of what we can expect in the US,” said John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital.
He added: “Increasing infections, increased variant rates, and slow rollout of boosters could all be signs of a spike. Whether it’s going to be another wave or a spike, he added. small swelling, we don’t know yet”.
Last month, the UK removed all Covid measures including masks, testing and surveillance.
Several European countries followed suit, as did the US, which relaxed mask-wearing guidelines for 70% of the country, including schools, the report said.
Fauci said he was encouraged that BA.2 did not appear to cause more severe illness, but warned that if the US experiences another Covid wave, Americans must be ready to put in place mitigation measures.
Source: IANS
