NEW YORK, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Despite some positive advances, coronavirus-related deaths remain at a persistently high level in the United States, with nearly 400 American deaths to COVID-19 reported each day, a daily total that has not seen any significant declines since the spring, reported ABC News on Wednesday.
Over the last seven days alone, the United States has reported just under 2,700 COVID-19 deaths; since the beginning of 2022, nearly 205,000 Americans have been lost to COVID-19, the report said, citing figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"The latest viral surge has been largely driven by highly infectious variants, which continue to infect and reinfect Americans. It has been more than eight months since the original Omicron variant emerged, and although the original strain is no longer circulating in the United States, its subvariants continue to spread," said the report.
BA.5, a subvariant of Omicron, is currently estimated to account for more than 87 percent of new COVID-19 cases in the country, the report said, noting that Omicron and its subvariants have been better at chipping away at vaccine efficacy, which has caused health experts to reignite their call for Americans to get vaccinated and boosted.
Last week, Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, warned that Americans who are not up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations may be in "trouble" this fall, with immunity waning over time, it added. ■