New COVID-19 variant may be driving up cases in parts of the world

COVID-19 cases are rising again as a new variant begins to circulate in some parts of the world. The World Health Organization said Wednesday the rise in cases is primarily in the eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and western Pacific regions.

Airport screening in the United States has detected the new variant in travelers arriving from those regions to destinations in California, Washington state, Virginia, and New York.

The new variant is called NB.1.8.1. It arrives as the United States’ official stance on COVID-19 vaccination is changing. On Tuesday, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that COVID-19 shots are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women—a move immediately questioned by several public health experts.

The new variant, increasing globally, had by mid-May reached nearly 11% of sequenced samples reported. The WHO has designated it a “variant under monitoring” and considers the public health risk low at the global level, with current vaccines expected to remain effective.

The WHO said some western Pacific countries have reported increases in COVID cases and hospitalizations, but there’s nothing so far to suggest that the disease associated with the new variant is more severe compared to other variants.

The variant called LP.8.1 is currently the dominant version in the U.S. and globally. —By Carla K. Johnson, AP medical writer

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.