Lockdown in US: Fresh curbs likely if Covid cases rise due to Omicron subvariant

Washington: The United States could face more lockdowns if Covid-19 cases go up once again due to the latest Omicron subvariant, even as the most cautious begin to shrug off their virus fears once-and-for-all, British paper Daily Mail has reported, citing the top US infectious-disease expert.

Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and adviser to US President Joe Biden, said easing restrictions, waning protection from vaccines and the rise of the BA.2 subvariant around the world could bring on another wave of rising infections to the United States.

"We generally follow what goes on in the UK by about two to three weeks," Fauci said. "I would not be surprised in the next few weeks, given the fact that we`ve begun to open up, and we have an increase in the BA.2 variant, that we`ll be seeing an increase in cases," Fauci said in a CNN interview last week.

At the height of the Omicron surge, the United States hit an all-time record of well over a million new infections every day, the report said. 

The BA.2 sub-lineage of the Omicron variant now accounts for about 35 per cent of new Covid-19 infections in the US, according to the data updated Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

This data is up from 22.3 per cent a week prior, and 15.8 per cent two weeks before, Xinhua news agency reported. The BA.2 variant is steadily gaining its hold in the country, with infections doubling in less than two weeks, according to CDC data.

Although the original Omicron variant still makes up the majority of Covid-19 infections in the country, its prevalence has dropped to 57.3 per cent in the week ending March 19.

Anthony Fauci, the nation`s top infectious disease expert, said he expects "an uptick in cases" due to BA.2, but not necessarily a massive surge like other variants have caused.

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