Another COVID Variant Is Gaining Traction In The United States

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a new Omicron subvariant is gaining traction in the United States. The agency said that the subvariant, called BA.2.12.1, makes up around 20% of the newly reported cases of COVID-19 across the country.

The BA.2 variant is still the dominant strain in the U.S., making up around 75% of the new cases.

The new variant is more contagious than previous strains of the coronavirus but does not appear to cause more severe disease. Health experts said that BA.2.12.1 is fueling a recent rise in new cases.

The CDC said that the seven-day moving average of COVID cases was up 23.4% over the past week, with nearly 35,000 cases reported.

Biozentrum of the University of Basel biologist Cornelius Roemer said that BA.2.12.1 has a mutation that allows it to bind to human cells easier than previous variants. He explained on Twitter that the mutation gives the strain a daily growth advantage of between five and ten percent over BA.2. Over the course of a week, that advantage grows to 30-90%.