Omicron BA.5 is now dominant Covid variant in US

The Omicron BA.5 variant is now the dominant Covid-19 variant in the US among new cases.

But the picture of the pandemic is becoming murkier as states report their cases on a less regular basis, according to The New York Times.

New federal estimates of new cases have shown that the BA.5 accounted for 54 per cent of new cases in the US for the week that ended on Saturday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The new data is based on models and can be changed as further figures are reported.

Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 can both avoid some antibodies created by vaccinations and infections but researchers in South Africa found that a peak in the spring didn’t appear to cause more severe disease than that country’s first wave of Omicron cases.

More follows...