CDC: Omicron BA.5 Makes Up Around 78% of COVID-19 Variants Spreading in US

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States, said the BA.5 sub-variant of Omicron COVID-19 was estimated to make up around 78 percent of the circulating COVID-19 variants in the United States for the week ended on July 16, 2022.

The BA.5 sub-variant of Omicron COVID-19, which has particularly been shown to be good at evading the immune protection afforded either by prior infection or vaccination, has been driving an increase in new COVID-19 infections across the globe.

The CDC data also showed that Omicron sub-variant BA.4 has been estimated to make up 12.8 percent of the circulating COVID-19 variants in the United States. The health regulator in the United States has also asked the COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to target all those circulating variants for a potential booster dose in the fall season.

The health officials of the United States are also urging people aged over 50 to get a booster vaccine shot, and they added that doing so will not prevent them from getting another bivalent booster vaccine shot designed to fend off the Omicron COVID-19 variant.

According to the reports, the city of Shanghai also discovered a COVID-19 case involving the BA.5 sub-variant of Omicron, raising alarm over the rapid spread of the variant.