Covid comeback seen in parts of America

Covid-19 is making its latest comeback in parts of the northeastern United States as the BA.2 coronavirus variant becomes dominant in the country, officials said on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila), while urging Congress to pass new funding or risk the supply of future treatments and vaccines.

The country is currently registering an average of 28,600 cases a day, well below the last peak of more than 800,000 daily infections on average seen in January.

Covid-19 deaths are running at around 900 a day, with a total of 1 million deaths from respiratory disease — first reported in China in December 2019 — expected within about a month.

But Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters there were early signs of a new wave.

“We have seen a small increase in reported Covid-19 cases in New York State and New York City and some increases in people in hospital with Covid-19 in New England, specifically where the BA.2 variant has been reaching levels above 50 percent (prevalence),” she said.

Wastewater surveillance, an early warning measure of rising cases, also showed a modest uptick of the virus in some communities around the country, according to her.

The BA.2 variant does not appear to cause a more severe Covid-19 than the original Omicron, BA.1, nor does it seem more likely to evade immune protection, but it is more transmissible.

BA.2 currently accounts for 35 percent of cases nationally and is expected to become dominant soon.

The dreaded rebound comes as the US legislature declined to add $22.5 billion in Covid-19 funding to a spending bill passed last week.

“At this stage, our resources are depleted,” US Health Secretary Xavier Becerra said. “The fund Congress established to reimburse doctors and other medical providers for Covid care for Americans, in particular the uninsured, is no longer accepting new claims for testing or treatment services as of yesterday.”