Mutations

Jill Biden, 72, has tested positive for Covid and is experiencing mild symptoms, the White House said in a statement.

Case counts are rising across the US, and public health experts are monitoring a worrisome new variant.

Doctors warned that the BA.2.86 variant – unofficially called “Pirola” – may be cause for concern as it is a newly-designated, highly-mutated variant of Omicron which triggered a surge in cases in a number of countries including the US.

It seems like everyone has Covid-19. Here’s why this wave is probably worse than official data suggests | CNN Covid-19 certainly didn’t take a vacation this summer. Virus levels in the US have been on the rise for weeks, but it’s hard to know exactly how widely it’s spreading. CNN

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'The pandemic is not over': Experts expect a surge in COVID cases this fall | CBC News Higher COVID-19 levels seen in Ottawa in the past month are expected to continue to rise through the fall, public health experts warn. CBC

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Ottawa's medical officer of health Vera Etches confirmed Thursday these trends will increase in the coming months, but said it's not yet clear that subvariants are driving the surge. 

Limited data suggest rising global COVID-19 activity The WHO said today it will shift its global COVID roundups from weekly updates to monthly reports. CIDRAP

hough case reporting doesn't accurately reflect COVID-19 activity because of decreased testing and reporting, the number reported over the past month increased by 63%, with increased cases reported in three regions, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest weekly update yesterday. ...