Average daily hospitalizations are up about 10% since last week, according to data collected by the US Department of Health and Human Services.

The culprit this time appears to be a spinoff of Omicron’s BA.2 subvariant called BA.2.12.1, which was first flagged by New York state health officials in April.

BA.2.12.1, which is growing about 25% faster than its parent virus, BA.2, accounts for nearly 37% all Covid-19 cases across the US, according to new estimates from the CDC…

After weeks of declines, South Africa saw its Covid-19 cases rise steeply in the past two weeks. Test positivity and hospitalizations have also popped up as scientists have watched two relatively new subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, dominate transmission in that country. Taken together, they accounted for almost 60% of all new Covid-19 cases by the end of April, according to South Africa’s National Institute of Communicable Diseases.