COVID cases are surging again in Europe and experts are warning that with nearly all restrictions lifted but booster take-up low, the continent could see a steep summer increase, the Guardian reported. The BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of omicron are believed to be partly to blame as they appear 10% to 15% more infectious than earlier variants, the paper reported. Citing data from Our World in Data, the paper said the seven-day average of confirmed new cases per million residents is rising in countries, including Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, the Netherlands and Denmark. In France, cases have climbed to 9230 from 224 on June 13 in just a week.
U.S. cases are averaging 96,218 a day, down 15% from two weeks ago, according to a New York Times tracker. The country is averaging 29,934 hospitalizations a day, up 2% from two weeks ago. The daily death toll stands at 289 on average, down 11% from two weeks ago. On a global basis, total cases are now above 540.6 million. Total deaths are above 6.32 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, with the U.S. still leading the way with 86.5 million cases and 1,014,040 deaths.
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