Coronavirus Morning News Brief – Oct. 11: New BQ.1.1 Variant Causes Alarm, Hospitals See Increase in the Flu and Other Viruses

Travelers at Tokyo Haneda Airport

Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 915th day of the pandemic.

Just as the wave of coronavirus infections from the BA.5 sublineage of the omicron variant finally seems to have subsided, new subvariants are already rearing their ugly heads.

The leading contender to cause a new wave of infections and ring alarms is a highly mutated subvariant called BQ.1.1.  In the United Kingdom, infections from the new variant are doubling on a weekly basis, a rate of increase that far exceeds other current subvariants as well as BA.5 in its early days.  In the United States, BQ.1.1 is spreading twice as fast as BA.2.75.

Not only is the new subvariant highly transmissible but that isn’t its most deadly quality.  It also evades multiple antibodies including several antibody therapies, namely Evusheld and bebtelovimab, which don’t work at all.

There is, however, a bit of good news in all this.

The mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna still work against BQ.1.1, especially the new bivalent booster.  Now if only everyone would go out and get their jab, we’d be all set.

In other news we cover today, Japan ended Covid restrictions at its borders and reopened them to visitors, hospitals are preparing for a brutal winter in the United States as the number of virus cases including the flu climbs, and China is increasing Covid restrictions in multiple cities after the Golden Week holiday.

UNITED STATES

A test of a nasal-spray version of the Covid vaccine jointly developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca yielded an antibody response in the respiratory mucous membranes only in a minority of participants in the early trial.  This was the first of three phases of clinical testing, Oxford said in a statement Tuesday.

Meanwhile, hospitals are preparing for a third Covid winter and what could be an unprecedented number of virus cases.   In addition to SARS-CoV-2, health care experts expect to see high levels of influenza and other respiratory illnesses that have remained in the background over the past two years.

GLOBAL

Following an increase in domestic travel during the fall “Golden Week” holiday period, cases in China have risen to their highest levels since August.  Authorities in many large cities including Shanghai are ramping up coronavirus testing and some local officials are shuttering schools, entertainment venues, and tourist attractions.

LONG COVID

Over 80% of Americans experiencing Long Covid in some form reported that their long-term symptoms have diminished their ability to perform day-to-day tasks and activities, according to new data from the U.S. Census’ Household Pulse Survey.

TRAVEL

Droves of tourists returned to Japan on Tuesday as the country opened up its borders without the strict pandemic protocols that had been in place since early 2020.  Visa-free travel is now available to visitors from 60 countries.

TODAY’S STATISTICS

Now here are the daily statistics for Tuesday, October 11.

As of Tuesday morning, the world has recorded 627.2 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.4 million cases, and 6.6 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 606.9 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.4 million.

Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Tuesday is 13,713,957, an increase of 14,000. Out of that figure, 99.7%, or 13,675,273, are considered mild, and 0.3%, or 38,684, are listed as critical.  The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 24 hours.

The United States reported 23,823 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday for the previous day, compared to 6,850 on Monday, 4,247 on Sunday, 34,654 on Saturday, 73,751 on Friday, and 80,585 on Thursday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  The 7-day incidence rate is now 37,127.  Figures for the weekend (reported the following day) are typically 30% to 60% of those posted on weekdays due to a lower number of tests being conducted.

The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past 14 days is 38,855, a 26% decrease, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources.  The average daily death toll over the same period is 379, a decrease of 9% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 26,380, a 10% decrease.

In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Tuesday, recorded over 98.6 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.09 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 44.6 million, and a reported death toll of 528,822.

The newest data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed that, at the end of July, the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now 823,623, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, behind the United States.  Rosstat reported that 3,284 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in July, down from 5,023 in June, 7,008 in May and 11,583 in April.

Meanwhile, France is the country with the third highest number of cases, with 35.9 million, although Brazil has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 686,928, and has recorded just under 34.8 million cases, placing it in the number four slot.

Germany is in the number five slot with over 34.1 million cases.

The other five countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are South Korea, with just under 25 million cases, the United Kingdom, with 23.7 million cases, placing it in the number seven slot, and Italy, with 22.8 million, as number eight, as well as Japan, with just under 21.6 million, and Russia, with over 21.2 million.

VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of the past Thursday, over 264.6 million people in the United States – or 79.7% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 68%, or 225.9 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 624.2 million. Breaking this down further, 90.6% of the population over the age of 18 – or 234 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 77.9% of the same group – or 200.9 million people – is fully vaccinated.  In addition, 52.1% of that population, or 104.7 million people, has already received a first booster dose of vaccine.

Starting on June 13, 2022, the CDC began to update vaccine data on a weekly basis and publish the updated information on Thursdays by 8 p.m. EDT, a statement on the agency’s website said.

Some 68.2% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Tuesday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information.  So far, 12.8 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 4.12 million doses are now administered each day.

Meanwhile, only 22.9% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.

Only a handful of the world’s poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain at or below 10%.

In addition, with the start of vaccinations in North Korea in late September, Eritrea remains the only country in the world that has not administered vaccines.

Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this story.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)