US records increase in COVID-19 infections

The United States has said coronavirus infections have risen by more than 12 per cent across the country.

A report by the cbsnews.com on Tuesday, it says “Weekly COVID-19 hospitalisations have risen by more than 12 per cent across the country, according to new data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, marking a second straight week of this key indicator of the virus climbing.”

It said that at least 8,035 hospital admissions of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were reported for the week of July 22 nationwide, the CDC said late Monday, up from 7,165 during the week before.

“Another important hospital metric has also been trending up in recent weeks: an average of 0.92% of the past week’s emergency room visits had COVID-19 as of July 28, up from 0.51% through June 28.

The new figures come after months of largely slowing COVID-19 trends nationwide since the last wave of infections over the winter, and again mark the largest percent increases in these key indicators of the virus since December.

CDC spokesperson Kathleen Conley, said in a statement on July 25, “U.S. COVID-19 rates are still near historic lows after seven months of steady declines.  Early indicators of COVID-19 activity (emergency department visits, test positivity, and wastewater levels) preceded an increase in hospitalisations seen this past week.”

Conley said virtually all counties were at “low” COVID-19 hospital admission levels, below the thresholds at which the CDC recommended additional precautions to curb the virus.

The report added that unlike previous waves, no single variant had yet emerged this summer to dominate infections nationwide.

“Instead, the CDC’s recent projections estimate that a mix of descendants from the XBB variant that first drove infections last winter are now competing around the country,” it read.