America, China before the threat of BA.2

Some parts of the US are seeing an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases as testing efforts are no longer as strong as before, raising fears that the next wave of serious infections could be difficult to detect. According to Bloomberg, a new outbreak of Covid-19 may be happening in the US without anyone knowing.

As the world’s leading economy accelerates its recovery from the pandemic, the need for lab testing is not as high as it used to be while the federal government is also shifting funding priorities to other areas. People increasingly rely on home testing if they want, but results are rarely reported, leaving public health officials with little information about the true extent of the disease.

At the end of February 2022, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began to rely on the number of hospitalizations and severe cases to determine the level of risk in the community, instead of based on the number of Covid-19 cases. 19 and the percentage of positive cases. Some states, including Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Ohio, etc., no longer provide the CDC with data on the number of daily Covid-19 cases, making it more difficult to assess the disease situation in these states.

Ashish Jha, who has just been appointed as the White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator, said on April 11 that the number of Covid-19 cases had increased recently but affirmed that he was not too worried, especially when Hospitalizations remain low across the country. Mr. Jha started his new job amid Omicron’s BA.2 subtype causing the majority of new infections in the US.

According to The New York Times, the US recorded an average of more than 31,000 cases per day in the week ending April 10, up 3% from two weeks ago. However, New York City and Washington, D.C., are among the localities with higher than average number of new cases.

A resident is sampled for Covid-19 testing in New York City – USA on April 11 Photo: Reuters

Many schools have reinstated the requirement to wear face masks amid an increase in the number of infections. Similarly, the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 11 became the first major city in the US to return to mandatory mask wearing at home after the number of infections there increased by more than 50% within 10 days. Local health officials emphasize that they are working to prevent the risk of a new outbreak caused by BA.2.

Outside the US, another worry of Washington is the development of the Covid-19 epidemic in Shanghai – China. The US State Department late on April 11 ordered non-essential diplomatic staff to leave this blockade city. Shanghai authorities on April 12 announced 23,342 more Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases in the latest outbreak to more than 200,000, although no deaths have been announced.

Many people in the city of 26 million people mentioned above were forced to stay at home for the past few days as authorities handled the outbreaks according to the “zero-tolerance to Covid-19” strategy. By April 12, according to Reuters, some people were allowed to leave their homes for the first time in more than two weeks after the government took steps to relax the blockade in areas assessed as low-risk.

Meanwhile, the government of Guangzhou city (population 18 million), Guangdong province on April 11 began a large-scale Covid-19 testing campaign after announcing the detection of dozens of new cases since the weekend. . Schools switched to online teaching earlier this week. In addition, all residents are asked not to leave the city unless there is a special reason.

According to CNBC, China is grappling with the worst Covid-19 outbreak since the pandemic broke out. Local officials believe the BA.2 subtype is the cause.