A new strain of the novel coronavirus has emerged in the United States, health officials say.
This was announced by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the 30th of last month, concerned about the spread of “XBB.1.5”, a mutant Omicron virus.
According to the CDC, about 40% of corona infection cases in the United States are new Omicron mutations.
Furthermore, considering only the North-Eastern region, it was reported that 75% of confirmed corona cases were XBB.1.5.
The number of daily hospitalizations due to corona has reached an average of 42,000 per week nationwide, and the number of intensive care patients has averaged over 5,000 per day per week.
Dr. Barbara Mahone of the CDC, however, said it hasn’t been confirmed whether this mutation would be more contagious than other variants of Omicron or cause more severe symptoms.
VOA news
