Hospitalizations are rising in New York City as a combination of new COVID strains, RSV and flu is affecting young children and adults, the New York Times reported. The BQ.1 omicron subvariant and other newly detected sublineages are more infectious than earlier strains of the virus, although for now they appear no more lethal. There were about 11,000 people in New York hospitals with COVID on Oct. 24, up from about 750 in mid-September.
In the U.S., known cases of COVID are continuing to ease and now stand at their lowest level since mid-April, although the true tally is likely higher given how many people overall are testing at home, where the data are not being collected. The daily average for new cases stood at 37,665 on Monday, according to a New York Times tracker, flat versus two weeks ago. The daily average for hospitalizations was up 2% at 27,184, while the daily average for deaths is down 3% to 348. Globally, the confirmed case tally rose above 630.6 million on Tuesday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins, while the death toll is above 6.59 million with the U.S. leading the world with 97.5 million cases and 1,070,389 deaths.
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