Daily Covid cases in the US rose 59% in two weeks as New York recorded most infections since January –

Daily Covid cases in America rose 59% in two weeks as New York recorded the highest number of infections in 24 hours since January, amid warnings that other states should prepare for spikes.

Data from states, counties, and local health officials revealed that the United States had an average of about 67,900 infections per day, up from 46,300 14 days ago.

Rhode Island, Maine, and Vermont face the largest outbreaks, with nearly all states seeing a rise in cases – with 11 cases recorded every two weeks.

But in New York, at the center of the outbreak of the even more contagious sub-variant Omicron BA.2.12.1, authorities recorded 10,251 cases yesterday, their highest daily numbers since January.

The New York City health commissioner is threatening to return the masks to restaurants and wants to show proof of vaccination if the city’s outbreak continues to grow in the state. But business groups warned of the move yesterday, saying it could force many companies to shut down.

Former White House Covid Advisor Dr Deborah Birx warned earlier this week that southern states should prepare for a wave of Covid cases this summer and that the north will follow in their footsteps this winter.

The number of Covid deaths in America increased by 47% in two weeks yesterday, reaching 694 in the last 24 hours.

The number of patients with Kovid in the hospital also increased by 11% in a week to 18,181. Experts warn, however, that many of these patients are likely to have contracted another illness, but only occasionally test positive for the virus after being admitted to wards.

Nearly all states are seeing an increase in cases, with Rhode Island, Maine, and Vermont hotspots. New York, at the center of the outbreak of a new subvariant, threatens to impose new requirements to demonstrate vaccine proof

The chart above shows the number of positive cases detected each day in New York. It reveals that they have reached their highest level since January.

The above shows the number of Covid deaths recorded each day in the United States. These also open

The Covid wave in America is caused by the Covid variant BA.2.12.1, which was thought to be behind two out of five cases nationwide, which was less than one in ten a month ago.

Studies show that it is approximately 25% more contagious than its sub-variant BA.2, which has led to increases in many European countries.

The increase in the United States comes as South Africa, which was at the center of the first wave of Omicron, nearly quadrupled the number of cases in a month amid reduced immunity and the proliferation of other versions of Omicron.

Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan, who previously sparked outrage when he said that children under the age of 5 would be masked “indefinitely”, announced that the restrictions for all New Yorkers would be restored if things took a turn for the worse.

“Obviously, if we move into a high-risk and vigilant environment, we will seriously consider resetting those powers,” he said.

The city went from low to medium alert this week.

It will be alarmed if more than 10 out of 100,000 people are hospitalized with Covid, or if 10 percent of all hospital beds in the city are occupied by Covid patients.

The number of hospital admissions is currently seven per 100,000, which is close to the high alert criterion. However, although the hospital occupancy rate is still increasing, it remains at a low level of 3.12 percent.

Currently, 87% of adults and 78% of all New Yorkers are fully vaccinated.

Dr Birx warned on CBS’s Face the Nation earlier this week: “We need to prepare now for a potential summer wave in the Southern United States because we’ve seen it in 2020, we’ve seen it in 2021.

“We need to make it clear to the American people that your protection against infections is diminished.

“What happened each time was that we had a summer swing in the south and a winter swing that started in the northern plains and accelerated during Thanksgiving, the holidays, and Christmas and Hanukkah, and that’s to be expected.”

Dr. Birx also pointed to South Africa, which has quadrupled its infections in a month amid falling antibody levels.

“I’ve been following South Africa closely, they’re good at testing, they’re good at sequencing and finding variants,” he told CBS.

†[But] Each of these peaks is on a slope at intervals of four or six months.

“This tells me that innate immunity in the general population has decreased enough to have another big wave after four or six months.”

According to WHO estimates, Sweden has one of the lowest pandemic death rates in Europe, despite its refusal to impose a blockade.

The Scandinavian nation became an international outcast when it went against scientific advice and chose not to shut down in 2020 relying on people’s common sense and moderate social restraints.

Now WHO’s analysis of the excess deaths – people who die directly and indirectly from Covid – shows that the highly controversial approach is justified.

Of the 194 countries surveyed by the UN health agency, Sweden’s pandemic death rate ranks 56 to 101 per 100,000, with an average well below 90.

It also ranks Sweden among most of the other major European countries blocked multiple times, such as Italy (133), Germany (116), Spain (111), Great Britain (109), Portugal (100), the Netherlands (85), Belgium ( 77) and France (63).

But countries were previously only judged by their Covid death rates, which was distorted by the differences in testing.

Excess deaths include deaths from all causes and are considered the most consistent way to measure the death rate of the pandemic, as it explains the lack of buffering and undiagnosed cases.

Sweden relied on citizens’ civic duty to protect the population, arguing that general blockades were not “necessary” or “defensible”. Authorities advised residents to maintain social distancing, but schools, bars and restaurants remained open.

But Sweden underperformed its Scandinavian neighbors: Denmark registered only 32 more deaths per 100,000, and Norway registered one more death per 100,000 than expected.

Experts told DailyMail.com that Sweden’s approach was “largely endorsed” by the WHO results and led to “much better” results than expected and most of Western Europe.

However, they noted that more studies are needed to understand the reason for the additional death rates in other Scandinavian countries, which have some of the lowest death rates in the world.