US, other nations track shifts in COVID-19 activity

The 7-day average for new daily COVID-19 cases is 105,576, with 269 daily deaths, according to the Washington Post tracker. Over the past week, cases dropped 1% after rising slowly since about the middle of April. Hospitalizations over the past week rose 8%, while deaths dropped 27%. The nation faces an uncertain summer, with the more transmissible BA.2.12.1 Omicron subvariant—first seen in New York—becoming the dominant strain over the past 2 weeks. Officials are closely watching two other more transmissible subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, that recently triggered a modest wave in South Africa and have been linked to a fresh rise in cases in Portugal.