Experts say Australia could still see new waves and strains of COVID-19. (Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash) Infectious disease experts have warned that, while Australia might have passed the peak of its winter COVID-19 wave, there could still be future surges and...
World News
Will ‘Centaurus’ be the next global coronavirus variant? Indian cases offers clues
COVID screening in India, where cases caused by the BA.2.75 variant are rising.Credit: Mohd Arhaan Archer/AFP/Gett As countries await the end of COVID-19 surges caused by the variant BA.5, researchers are on the lookout for what will come next. An Omicron subvariant...
FDA expands monkeypox vaccine authorization to increase dose supply, allows shots for children
A health worker administers a dose of the Bavarian Nordic A/S Jynneos monkeypox vaccine at a vaccination site in West Hollywood, California, on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. Jill Connelly | Bloomberg | Getty Images The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday expanded its...

U.S. COVID Deaths Increase to Nearly 500 Per Day Again
COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are increasing again as the very contagious BA.5 variant spreads across the country, with nearly 500 deaths reported each day. After 2 months of daily death numbers rarely climbing above 400, the average has recently grown to about 450...

New Omicron Subvariants Are Now Officially Dominant Covid Strains In U.S.
A little over a month after the more transmissible BA.2.12.1 Omicron subvariant became officially dominant in the U.S. on May 24, two sister subvariants of Omicron have quickly eclipsed BA.2.12.1 across the country. BA.5 and BA.4 are, like BA.2.12.1, more...

How the omicron subvariant BA.5 became a master of disguise – and what it means for the current COVID-19 surge
The omicron subvariant known as BA.5 was first detected in South Africa in February 2022 and spread rapidly throughout the world. As of the second week of July 2022, BA.5 constituted nearly 80% of COVID-19 variants in the United States. Soon after researchers in South...

Infectious Disease Specialist on COVID BA.5 and Monkeypox
Getting the facts on infectious diseases has become a normal part of life since the pandemic’s beginning in early 2020. Now, a dominant subvariant strain of COVID-19, so-called BA.5, is the most contagious yet. Separately, cases of an entirely different virus,...

Covid reinfections in the UK: how likely are you to catch coronavirus again?
With recent UK data suggesting that the BA.4 and BA.5 Covid variants are kicking off a new wave of infections, experts answer the key questions about reinfection and prevention. How common are Covid reinfections? Though rare at the start of the pandemic, reinfections...

With BA.5 on the rise, what should event organizers keep in mind? An expert explains
(CNN)The highly transmissible Omicron subvariant BA.5 represents at least 65% of new Covid-19 infections in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Infections are rising in most parts of the country, and these numbers are...

Many People Becoming Reinfected as BA.5 Dominates New COVID-19 Cases
July 14, 2022 -- When the COVID-19 pandemic first began, the general thought was that once people were infected, they were then protected from the virus. But a new analysis by ABC News shows that more and more Americans are getting the virus again. It’s hard to say...

As BA.5 spreads, experts wonder: Where are the masks?
Some experts are questioning why the federal government is not taking a stronger stance on masking amid rising transmission and hospitalization rates driven by the highly transmissible BA.5 omicron subvariant. "There are no public health measures at all. We're in a...

Should You Be Worried About Outdoor Transmission During the BA.5 Surge?
BA.5—the omicron subvariant that emerged in South Africa in February before sweeping across the world—is now the dominant coronavirus variant in the United States. Thanks to a unique cluster of mutations on the spike protein, the part of the virus that latches to our...

Why Covid ‘twin variants’ BA.4 and BA.5 spread so fast
Following a relatively quiet Covid period with a gentle decline in the number of infections and hospitalisations, the emergence of the “twin” Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants is causing figures to go up again around the world. Experts have stated that a new summer...