Washington Post: A covid surge in Western Europe has U.S. bracing for another wave
A surge in coronavirus infections in Western Europe has experts and health authorities on alert for another wave of the pandemic in the United States, even as most of the country has done away with restrictions after a sharp decline in cases.
Infectious-disease experts are closely watching the subvariant of omicron known as BA.2, which appears to be more transmissible than the original strain, BA.1, and is fueling the outbreak overseas.
Germany, a nation of 83 million people, saw more than 250,000 new cases and 249 deaths Friday, when Health Minister Karl Lauterbach called the nation’s situation “critical.” The country is allowing most coronavirus restrictions to end Sunday, despite the increase. Britain had a seven-day average of 65,894 cases and 79 deaths as of Sunday, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Research Center.
The Netherlands, home to fewer than 18 million people, was averaging more than 60,000 cases the same day.
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WNU Editor: This outbreak is not going to be limited within Europe .... Europe’s Covid spike has Biden officials concerned, could lead to return of masks (Politico). More here .... Fresh COVID wave expected to hit the US as Omicron subvariant and patchy vaccination rates drive surge in Europe (Insider), and here .... Is Europe's new COVID surge coming to America next? (Yahoo News).
Update:Cases are going to rise .... COVID cases predicted to rise in coming weeks because of new BA.2 variant (ABC News).
Update #2: A new variant has been detected .... New combo COVID strain Deltacron detected in Israel, report says (Times Of Israel). More here .... NEW THREAT Two people in Israel hit with Covid variant ‘not yet known to the world’ (The SUN)
Update #3: China is going under lockdown .... China battles multiple COVID outbreaks fueled by ‘stealth Omicron’ variant (Times of Israel). More here .... In China, 37 million people are in Covid lockdown. Here's what we know (CNN).
Update #4: Global cases are going up .... Global COVID cases rising again (CIDRAP).