New data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated that new COVID-19 strains are gaining ground across the world and in the United States, with a new variant BQ.1 that now makes up one in ten cases across the country.
BQ.1 COVID-19 variant was first named by scientists in early September 2022, based on sequences spotted across the United States and several other countries in the world. Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to the US president, said that when people get COVID-19 variants like that, they will look at what their rate of increase is as a relative proportion of the variants.
BQ.1 COVID-19 variant have already outpaced many rival strains in the European countries, including England and Germany that have already seen renewed waves. According to the US CDC, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 each make up an estimated 5.7 percent of COVID-19 infections around the United States.
According to the US CDC, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 represent a small subset of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, and BA.5 remains the dominant strain in the country. According to reports, very little is known about what impact the mutations might have in affecting the seriousness of the disease, which would require further studies in humans and animals.
