The global tally of new cases of COVID rose 2% in the week through Dec. 11 from the previous week, the World Health Organization said Thursday, with more than 3.3 million new cases reported. The death toll rose more than 10% from the previous week to more than 9,700. The highest number of new cases was recorded in Japan at 849,371, up 13% from the previous week. That was followed by the U.S, at 448,634, up 50% from the previous week. The omicron variant accounted for 99.5% of sequences sent to a central database, with BA.5 descendent sublineages dominant with a prevalence of 73.7% in the week through Nov. 22. “Five Omicron subvariants are under monitoring due to relevant genetic variation, rise in prevalence, and/or an
observed and continued impact on case incidence in more than one country,” the WHO said in its weekly epidemiological update. These include BA.2.75, BA.6, BQ.1, XBB and BA.2.30.2, all of which appear to have greater immune escape properties. For now, data suggests they do not create more severe disease.
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