The new BA.5 coronavirus variant is fueling yet another wave of COVID-19 infections. The CDC said it's now the dominant strain in the U.S., accounting for over 60% of cases. @WmBrangham speaks with @EricTopol about the most transmissible variant to date. https://t.co/2GeSVAHO9i pic.twitter.com/NBdeceUV22
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) July 13, 2022
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… “Over the course of the past week, there has been a 57% rise in new cases of Covid-19 compared to the previous week,” Moscow social services wrote on Telegram.
“We recommend that you wear a mask in public places because the new Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 spread more rapidly from person to person.”…
The European Union on Monday recommended that all over-60s have a second vaccine injection because of the forecast “summer wave” in Covid infections. Its recommendation had previously been for people over 80.
Since July 6, the Russian capital has registered between 500 and 600 new cases daily, compared to less than 400 the week before.
This is still far from the high of more than 20,000 new cases per day recorded in Moscow in February this year.
Moscow has been the center of the pandemic in Russia. Waves that start in the capital quickly spread across the vast country.
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Have you ever been asked a question about COVID that had no basis in reality?
Well, all COVID questions deserve answers. Today’s episode features @DrJoshS’s recent appearance on @CSPAN, where he answered everything that came his way.
https://t.co/rjD3GHhkTF pic.twitter.com/bSB4UtubIk
— Public Health On Call (@PublicHealthPod) July 14, 2022
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“BA.5 has taught us once again, the virus doesn’t just get milder and fade away,” @EricTopol writes. “While the virus revs up its mutations under selection pressure, we’ve ironically become immutable, more resistant to taking an aggressive stance.” https://t.co/kvtyL1AXYp
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) July 11, 2022
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Reader Interactions
11Comments
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NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
NYSDOH says 104 new cases for 7/13/22
114 new cases for 7/14/22
(PCR tests only).
Rob
This article has me concerned:
https://www.barrons.com/news/tanzania-probes-mystery-illness-after-three-die-01657731008
Tanzania Probes Mystery Illness After Three Die
“Symptoms of the illness include fever, headaches, fatigue and nosebleeds, the government’s chief medical officer Aifello Sichalwe said in a statement.
So far, 13 cases have been reported in the southeastern region of Lindi, including the three people who died.
Sichalwe said the patients had tested negative for Ebola and Marburg, as well as Covid-19.”
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 4,098 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, for a cumulative reported total of 4,608,768 cases. It also reported eight deaths for an adjusted cumulative total of 35,836 deaths – 0.78% of the cumulative reported total, 0.78% of resolved cases.
59,006 Covid-19 tests were conducted on 12th July, with a positivity rate of 8.1%.
There were 38,913 active cases yesterday, 2,019 more than the day before. 1,339 were in hospital. 53 confirmed cases were in ICU; of these patients, 35 confirmed cases were on ventilators. Meanwhile, 2,071 more patients recovered, for a cumulative total of 4,534,019 patients recovered – 98.4% of the cumulative reported total.
4,093 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. Five new cases were imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 16,064 doses of vaccine on 14th July: 291 first doses, 4,247 second doses, 1,531 first booster doses, and 9,995 second booster doses. The cumulative total is 71,743,739 doses administered: 28,053,606 first doses, 27,354,910 second doses, 16,160,114 first booster doses and 192,860 second booster doses. 85.9% of the population have received their first dose, 83.8% their second dose, 49.5% their first booster dose, and 0.6% their second booster dose.
New Deal democrat
Biobot shows another 7% increase in COVID between July 6 and July 9. Hope everybody enjoyed those 4th of July get-togethers! Nationwide cases have increased this week to 125,200. Hospitalizations continue to increase, now at 42,300. Deaths have increased to 418 from roughly 325. The increase has been concentrated in NC, NM, OR, and WA. It may be a real increase, or may reflect distortions compared with July 4.
By now BA.4&5 are probably close to 90% of all infections, which means as soon as the July 4-related spate of cases peaks, probably within a week, whatever US wave manifests from BA.4&5 is going to peak as well.
New variant BA.2.75 has been detected in 7 US States, and has also been detected in the UK, the Netherlands, and Germany.
Ken
Apropos of nothing, I am often puzzled by the photos used with news articles. The AP report on the WHO announcement of worldwide cases, illustrated by a man standing in front of a locksmith shop, is an example.
YY_Sima Qian
On 7/14 Mainland China reported 64 new domestic confirmed (13 previously asymptomatic), 368 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 0 new domestic suspect cases, & 0 new deaths.
Guangdong Province reported 17 new domestic confirmed (3 previously asymptomatic) & 39 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 4 domestic confirmed & 3 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 131 active domestic confirmed & 100 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by jurisdictions, I cannot traced the active domestic cases in each jurisdictions due to multiple clusters at the same time.
Guangxi “Autonomous” Region reported 165 new domestic asymptomatic cases,. The cases at Beihai were found via mass screening triggered by the community case reported on 7/12. There currently are 205 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the region.
Hainan Province reported 7 new domestic confirmed (5 previously asymptomatic, 6 at Haikou & 1 at Ding’an County) & 1 new domestic asymptomatic (at Haikou) cases, all new domestic positive cases are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine & 2 via community screening. There currently are 24 active domestic confirmed (23 at Haikou & 1 at Ding’an County) & 22 active domestic asymptomatic (20 at Haikou & 2 at Qionghai) cases in the province. 11 sites at Haikou are currently at High Risk, & 5 at Medium Risk.
At Wuhan in Hubei Province there currently are 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
Bayan Nur in Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region reported 1 new domestic confirmed case. There currently are 31 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 9 sites at Urad Middle Banner & 2 at Wuyuan County are currently at High Risk, & 9 at Urad Middle Banner & 1 at Wuyuan County at Medium Risk.
At Shaanxi Province 4 domestic confirmed & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 6 active confirmed (5 at Xi’an & 1 at Baoji) & 20 active domestic asymptomatic (all at Xi’an) cases in the city. 1 site at Xi’an is currently at High Risk, & 6 at Medium Risk.
At Shanxi Province there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Yuncheng) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Jincheng) cases in the province.
Gansu Province reported 30 new domestic confirmed (5 previously asymptomatic) & 41 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 85 active domestic confirmed & 203 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Shandong Province reported 9 new domestic asymptomatic (all at Linyi) cases, all traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 24 active domestic confirmed (2 at Qingdao, 19 at Linyi, & 1 each at Tai’an, Weihai & Yantai) & 358 domestic asymptomatic (355 at Linyi & 3 at Qingdao) cases. 18 sites at Linyi are currently at High Risk. 26 sites at Linyi & 2 at Qingdao are currently at Medium Risk.
Henan Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 51 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 14 active domestic confirmed & 181 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Liaoning Province 5 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 9 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks. 2 sites at Dandong & 1 district at Dalian are currently at Medium Risk.
Beijing Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. The municipality is not publishing the count of active domestic positive cases there. 3 sites are currently at High Risk, & 4 at Medium Risk.
At Tianjin Municipality 3 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 5 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 2 sites are currently at High Risk, & 2 at Medium Risk.
Shanghai Municipality reported 6 new domestic confirmed & 39 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. 11 domestic confirmed & 9 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 95 active domestic confirmed (none serious) in the city. The city is no longer publishing the number of active asymptomatic cases. 12 sites are currently at High Risk & 169 at Medium Risk.
At Anhui Province 32 domestic confirmed & 133 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 184 active domestic confirmed & 807 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Jiangsu Province reported 13 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 69 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 38 active domestic & 486 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not separate recoveries by jurisdictions, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases at the different jurisdictions, due to the simultaneous outbreaks in different locations.
Zhejiang Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. As the province does not break down recoveries by imported & domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there.
Fujian Province reported 3 new domestic asymptomatic (all at Pingtan) case, 2 traced close contacts of imported asymptomatic case reported on 7/13 & under centralized quarantine, & via community screening. 1 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. 1 There currently are 18 active domestic confirmed & 103 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not separate recoveries by jurisdictions, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases at the different jurisdictions, due to the simultaneous outbreaks in different locations. 9 sites in Ningde & 3 at Pingtan are currently at High Risk. 44 sites at Ningde, 2 at Zhangzhou & 1 Pingtan are currently at Medium Risk.
Jiangxi Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 7 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Nanchang, all traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. There currently are 10 active domestic confirmed (all at Nanchang) & 20 active domestic asymptomatic (18 at Nanchang & 1 each at Ji’an & Shangrao) cases in the city. 9 sites are currently at High Risk, & 15 at Medium Risk.
Sichuan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. As the province does not break down recoveries by imported & domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there.
Chongqing Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city.
At Xining in Qinghai Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city.
At Yunnan Province there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case remaining.
Imported Cases
On 7/14, Mainland China reported 49 new imported confirmed cases (3 previously asymptomatic), 52 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 93 confirmed cases recovered (41 imported), 282 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (56 imported) & 16 were reclassified as confirmed cases (3 imported), & 8,659 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,139 active confirmed cases in the country (449 imported), 1 in serious/critical condition (domestic), 3,336 active asymptomatic cases (372 imported), 0 suspect cases. 123,882 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 7/14, 3,411.136M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 703K doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 7/14 Macau reported 31 new positive cases, all domestic. 22 of the domestic cases are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine & 9 via community screening. There was 1 new death.
On 7/14 Hong Kong added 3,358 new positive cases, 216 imported & 3,142 domestic (1,277 via RT-PCR & 1,965 from rapid antigen tests), 5 deaths (64 – 90 y.o., 4 fully vaccinated, including 1 boosted).
On 7/14, Taiwan added 25,310 new positive cases, 87 imported & 25,223 domestic (including 203 moderate or serious). There were 114 new deaths (ages ranging from 40+ y.o. to 90+ y.o., actual dates of death ranging from 5/6 to 7/11, 108 having a range of underlying conditions, 38 fully vaccinated & boosted).
Matt McIrvin
The case rates and wastewater counts continue to be close to flat in New England–not obviously dropping any further, but also not really taking off. BA.5 is a slightly smaller fraction of cases here than in the rest of the country, but not by that much–it’s already a large majority of cases. I’ve been assuming that as the fraction of BA.5 rises, the R value will poke enough above 1 that we get a new peak, but maybe enough people will have been infected that it’s not a big wave, or maybe we don’t really get a new peak at all, just this long plateau of a tail from our spring wave. Other places that have seen a bigger wave from BA.5 had less going on from the BA.2 subvariants before.
Old School
@Ken:
The article mentions U.S. cities, but doesn’t specifically mention Los Angeles. I guess the photo was recent/handy.
opiejeanne
@Old School: That’s funny. I assumed that photo of the man in front of the locksmith shop was taken in Los Angeles. Something about the light as well as the building made me think that
What gets me are the photos of people with masks on their mouths or chins, none covering their noses, the Moscow photo in particular.
the pollyanna from hell
M returned from isolation, only A remains up there in the cabin. The rest of us in Denver seem o.k.
YY_Sima Qian
On 7/16 Mainland China reported 106 new domestic confirmed (23 previously asymptomatic), 474 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 0 new domestic suspect cases, & 0 new deaths.
Guangdong Province reported 21 new domestic confirmed (15 previously asymptomatic) & 9 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 2 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 166 active domestic confirmed & 107 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by jurisdictions, I cannot traced the active domestic cases in each jurisdictions due to multiple clusters at the same time.
Guangxi “Autonomous” Region reported 9 new domestic confirmed (3 previously asymptomatic) & 235 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 9 active domestic confirmed & 474 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the region.
Hainan Province reported 4 new domestic confirmed (all previously asymptomatic, all at Haikou) cases. 2 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 33 active domestic confirmed (32 at Haikou & 1 at Ding’an County) & 13 active domestic asymptomatic (all at Haikou) cases in the province. 10 sites at Haikou & 1 at Ding’an County are currently at High Risk. 4 site at Haikou & 3 at Ding’an County are currently at Medium Risk.
At Wuhan in Hubei Province there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case remaining.
At Bayan Nur in Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region there currently are 31 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 2 sites at Urad Middle Banner are currently at High Risk, & 10 at Urad Middle Banner & 2 at Wuyuan County at Medium Risk.
At Shaanxi Province 7 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 4 active confirmed (3 at Xi’an & 1 at Baoji) & 12 active domestic asymptomatic (all at Xi’an) cases in the city. 3 sites at Xi’an are currently at Medium Risk.
At Shanxi Province there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Yuncheng) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Jincheng) cases in the province.
Gansu Province reported 53 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 105 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 169 active domestic confirmed & 388 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Shandong Province reported 4 new domestic asymptomatic (all at Linyi) cases, all traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. There currently are 23 active domestic confirmed (2 at Qingdao, 19 at Linyi, & 1 each at Tai’an & Weihai) & 366 domestic asymptomatic (365 at Linyi & 1 at Qingdao) cases. 3 sites at Linyi are currently at High Risk, & 38 sites at Medium Risk.
Henan Province reported 29 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 15 active domestic confirmed & 248 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Liaoning Province 2 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 5 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks. 2 sites at Dandong & 1 district at Dalian are currently at Medium Risk.
Yushu in Changchun, Jilin Province reported 6 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. There currently are 9 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 3 sites at Yushu are currently at High Risk, & 4 at Medium Risk.
Jiamusi in Heilongjiang Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, a traced close contact of domestic positive cases elsewhere.
At Beijing Municipality 4 domestic confirmed cases recovered. The municipality is not publishing the count of active domestic positive cases there. 1 site is currently at High Risk, & 4 at Medium Risk.
At Tianjin Municipality 2 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case remaining. 2 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
Shanghai Municipality reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 24 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 25 are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine & 1 via community screening (at Songjiang District). 22 domestic confirmed & 49 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 76 active domestic confirmed (none serious) in the city. The city is no longer publishing the number of active asymptomatic cases. 10 sites are currently at High Risk & 116 at Medium Risk.
Anhui Province reported 5 new domestic confirmed & 42 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 27 domestic confirmed & 138 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 138 active domestic confirmed & 708 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Jiangsu Province reported 5 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 59 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 35 active domestic & 372 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not separate recoveries by jurisdictions, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases at the different jurisdictions, due to the simultaneous outbreaks in different locations.
Zhejiang Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed (at Ningbo) case, a traced close contact of domestic positive cases reported elsewhere & under centralized quarantine. As the province does not break down recoveries by imported & domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there.
Fujian Province reported 3 new domestic asymptomatic (all at Pingtan) cases, all traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. There currently are 16 active domestic confirmed & 103 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not separate recoveries by jurisdictions, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases at the different jurisdictions, due to the simultaneous outbreaks in different locations. 1 site in Ningde & 3 at Pingtan are currently at High Risk. 22 sites at Ningde, 1 at Zhangzhou & 1 Pingtan are currently at Medium Risk.
Jiangxi Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 7 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Nanchang, 5 traced close contacts under centralized quarantine & 4 via community screening. There currently are 12 active domestic confirmed (all at Nanchang) & 31 active domestic asymptomatic (29 at Nanchang & 1 each at Ji’an & Shangrao) cases in the city. 21 sites are currently at High Risk, & 34 at Medium Risk.
Sichuan Province reported 7 new domestic confirmed (5 at Chengdu & 1 each at Guangyuan & Meishan) & 5 new domestic asymptomatic (3 at Meishan & 1 each at Chengdu & Guangyuan) cases. The cases at Chengdu & Meishan are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. The cases at Guangyuan As the province does not break down recoveries by imported & domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there. 5 sites at Chengdu & 1 at Meishan are currently at High Risk. 5 sites at Chengdu & 2 at Meishan are currently at Medium Risk.
Chongqing Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed &.1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
Guiyang in Guizhou Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, a traced close contact of a domestic positive case in Shanghai, & under centralized quarantine.
Xining in Qinghai Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
Imported Cases
On 7/16, Mainland China reported 48 new imported confirmed cases (3 previously asymptomatic), 63 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 94 confirmed cases recovered (41 imported), 295 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (32 imported) & 26 were reclassified as confirmed cases (3 imported), & 14,472 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,229 active confirmed cases in the country (466 imported), 3 in serious/critical condition (all domestic), 3,673 active asymptomatic cases (400 imported), 0 suspect cases. 122,049 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 7/16, 3,412.457M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 554K doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 7/16 Macau reported 27 new positive cases, all domestic. 25 of the domestic cases are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine & 2 via community screening. There were 0 new deaths.
On 7/16 Hong Kong added 3,486 new positive cases, 173 imported & 3,313 domestic (1,313 via RT-PCR & 2,000 from rapid antigen tests), 4 deaths (71 – 94 y.o., all fully vaccinated, including 1 boosted).
On 7/16, Taiwan added 25,325 new positive cases, 129 imported & 24,196 domestic (including 156 moderate or serious). There were 73 new deaths (ages ranging from 30+ y.o. to 90+ y.o., actual dates of death range from 5/14 – 7/15, 71 w/ underlying conditions, 22 fully vaccinated & boosted).