On July 5, local time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that as of July 2, the rapidly spreading Omicron variant strains BA.4 and BA.5 have become the dominant strains in the United States, causing a combined 70.1% of new coronary pneumonia infections.
The new data also show that the share of BA.4 variant strains is 16.5% and the share of BA.5 is 53.6%. The two variant strains accounted for 52 percent of the total number of infections nationwide in the week ending June 25, the report said.
In March, the BA.4 and BA.5 variants were placed on the World Health Organization’s surveillance list and designated as strains of concern by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.