Covid-19 deaths are running at around 900 per day -- with a total of one million deaths from the disease expected withing about a month.
But Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Rochelle Walensky told reporters there were early signs of a new wave. "We have seen a small increase in reported Covid-19 cases in New York state and New York City and some increases in people in hospital with COVID-19 in New England, specifically where the BA.2 variant has been reaching levels above 50 percent (prevalence)," she said.
Wastewater surveillance, an early warning measure of rising cases, also showed a modest uptick of the virus in some communities around the country, she added.
The BA.2 variant does not appear to cause more severe disease than the original Omicron, BA.1, nor does it seem more likely to evade immune protection -- but it is more transmissible.