Two New Omicron Subvariants Are Spreading Quickly, Shanghai Sees Another Day of Record Cases and Today’s Statistics
Pfizer-BioNTech said that a booster dose for children ages 5 to 11 was effective
Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 765th day of the pandemic.
Today even the subvariants have variants
The number of new Covid cases in the United States rose above the 50,000 mark Wednesday for the first time since March 4 of this year, some six weeks ago.
A good part of the increase may be due to two new subvariants that are currently circulating in New York State and elsewhere, health officials in the Empire State said Wednesday.
The subvariants spread rapidly, with a transmissibility rate 25% higher when compared with the highly contagious BA.2 subvariant of the original omicron variant. What’s not clear is whether the new subvariants spread faster because they are more contagious or whether it’s because they have an improved ability to sidestep the body’s immune defenses.
One of the two has a mutation that does, in fact, dodge immunity.
In case you are wondering, yes, the sub subvariants have names (the odd coincidence of naming variants seemngly after major airlines seems to continue since Delta and BA). They are BA.2.12 and BA2.12.1.
In March, BA.2.12 and BA2.12.1 accounted for over 70% of new cases in Central New York and they are just getting started. Fasten your seatbelts on this BA flight. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
In other news we cover today, the United States extended its mask mandate for planes and trains, Pfizer-BioNTech said that a booster dose for children ages 5 to 11 was effective, and Shanghai saw yet another day of record cases.
Here’s a look at what has taken place over the past 24 hours.
UNITED STATES
Drugmaker Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said a clinical trial showed that a booster dose of its mRNA vaccine increased the level of neutralizing antibodies against both the original version of the virus and the Omicron variant in children ages 5 to 11.
The companies said they would ask the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization of such a booster “in the coming days.” Approval is typically granted within a month of the request.
The United States on Wednesday said it will once again extend its mask mandate for all forms of public transportation including airplanes, trains, buses, light rail, subways, and streetcars as well as for airports and rail terminals, a Biden administration official said. The mandate will be in effect through at least May 3, 2022.
GLOBAL
After a one-day pause, Shanghai began seeing record numbers of new daily cases, news that extends the horizon of the city-wide lockdown.
On Wednesday, Shanghai reported 26,330 new cases, a daily record for the 11th time in just 12 days.
TODAY’S STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Thursday, April 14.
As of Thursday morning, the world has recorded 502.3 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.9 million new cases in the preceding 24 hour period, and over 6.2 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 452.6 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 1.1 million.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Thursday is 43,406,738, a decrease of 233,000 from the prior day. Out of that figure, 99.9%, or 43,363,539 are considered mild, and 0.1%, or 43,199 are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical is largely unchanged over the past 24 hours.
The United States reported 53,911 new coronavirus infections on Thursday for the previous day, compared to 23,034 on Wednesday, 49,391 on Tuesday, 8,145 on Monday, and 13,521 on Sunday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Figures for the weekend (reported the following day) are typically 30% to 60% of those posted on weekdays due to a lower number of tests being conducted.
The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past 14 days is 33,691, a 22% increase, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources. The average daily death toll over the same period is 513, a decrease of 27% over the same period.
In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Thursday, recorded 82.2 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of over 1 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, just over 43 million, and a reported death toll of 521,767. Meanwhile, Brazil has recorded the second highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 661,710, and has 30.2 million cases. France continues to occupy the number four position with 27.3 million cases, and Germany is in the number five slot with 23.1 million. The United Kingdom, with over 21.7 million cases, is now number six and is the only other country in the world with a total number of cases over the 20 million mark.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of Thursday, over 256.5 million people in the United States – or 77.3% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 65.8%, or 218.6 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 567.2 million. Breaking this down further, 88.7% of the population over the age of 18 – or 228.9 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 75.8% of the same group – or 195.6 million people – is fully vaccinated. In addition, 48.8% of that population, or 95.4 million people, has already received a third, or booster, dose of vaccine.
Over 64.8 % of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Thursday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 11.42 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 12.23 million doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 14.8% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine. In countries such as Ethiopia, Haiti, Syria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda, for example, vaccination rates remain in the single digits, if not lower.
Anna Breuer contributed to this story.
Photo caption: The skyline of lower Manhattan
(Photo: Accura Media Group)