Xinhua News Agency, Los Angeles, July 21. Summary: The number of new crown cases in the United States exceeds 90 million, and the cumulative number of deaths exceeds 1.025 million
Xinhua News Agency reporter Tan Jingjing
Statistics from Johns Hopkins University in the United States show that as of the 21st, the cumulative number of confirmed cases of the new crown in the United States has exceeded 90 million, and the cumulative number of deaths has exceeded 1.025 million. On the same day, US President Biden was confirmed to be infected with the new crown virus. Experts said that the accelerated spread of the new subtype BA.5 of the mutated new coronavirus Omicron strain in the United States has led to a surge in recent infections, resulting in a high rate of breakthrough infection, and the United States is facing severe challenges in epidemic prevention and control.
A breakthrough infection is when a pathogen breaks through a vaccine‘s defenses, causing a vaccinated person to contract a disease the vaccine is supposed to prevent. The White House reported on the morning of the 21st that Biden tested positive for the new crown virus that day and had very mild symptoms. According to reports, Biden has been experiencing symptoms such as runny nose, fatigue, and occasional dry cough since the evening of the 20th, and he has started taking the combination of the antiviral oral drug nematevir/ritonavir for the treatment of new crown infection. Biden has previously been vaccinated against the new crown vaccine and two doses of booster shots, and he will be quarantined in the White House and continue to fully perform his duties.
In addition to Biden, several politicians and well-known experts in the United States have been infected with the new crown virus for some time, including Vice President Harris, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Fauci, Attorney General Garland, Commerce Secretary Raymond More, Secretary of Health and Human Services Becerra and others.
Professor Zhang Zuofeng, director of the Department of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency recently that the new subtype of BA. Considering the high proportion of asymptomatic infections and other characteristics, considering that the new subtype has stronger immune evasion ability, and the antibody level gradually declines after people are vaccinated for a period of time, the current breakthrough infection rate is high. However, vaccination and booster shots can still significantly reduce the severity and mortality of the new crown.
Recently, the US epidemic indicators have all reproduced an “rising tide”. The latest weekly epidemic report of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the number of confirmed cases, deaths and hospitalizations of the new crown in the United States increased by 15.7%, 12.6% and 14.4% respectively from the previous week. More than one-third of U.S. counties or territories are in areas with high rates of community transmission of the new coronavirus.
According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States currently has an average daily increase of about 126,000 confirmed cases of new crowns, an average daily increase of about 350 deaths, and an average daily increase of about 6,200 hospitalized cases. Experts say the actual number of cases in the U.S. may be much higher than official statistics, because some people with mild symptoms are no longer being tested, and some people are being tested at home without reporting their results.
The latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that in the week ended July 16, cases caused by BA.5 accounted for 77.9% of the total confirmed cases in the United States, and BA.4 accounted for 12.8%. The number of infections caused by the two new subtypes has continued to rise since mid-May.
The US media “Politico” reported that the number of confirmed cases of the new crown in the United States is soaring again, but the states have no new response plan. Its measures to deal with the current 130,000 new confirmed cases per day are the same as the 30,000 new cases four months ago. The routine measures are no different.