Highly infectious New COVID Strain from China that Led to Massive Spike in Hospitalizations has Spread to the US — Including NYC; A New Covid Variant Surging in Asia is Now Spreading Across the US. Here’s Where It Is and What To Know, and other C-Virus related stories

By admin On Jun 2, 2025

Highly infectious new COVID strain from China that led to massive spike in hospitalizations has spread to the US — including NYC:

A new, highly infectious COVID-19 strain that has left to a spike in hospitalizations in China has now been detected in the US, including cases in New York City, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The new NB.1.81 variant was first detected in the US in late March and early April among international travelers arriving at airports in California, Washington State, Virginia and New York City, with additional cases reported in Ohio, Rhode Island and Hawaii.

The CDC has said there are too few cases in the US to be properly tracked in the agency’s variant estimates, but experts are warning that the virus’ run in China shows it spreads more quickly than other dominant strains of the respiratory infection.

Experts have been closely tracking the NB.1.8.1 variant after it became the dominant strain in China this year, with cases surging all across Asia.

Hong Kong authorities say COVID-19 cases have spiked to the worst levels in at least a year after officials announced a “significant increase” in emergency room visits and hospitalizations in the last month due to the variant.

That included 81 severe cases in the past four weeks, including 30 deaths. The vast majority of the cases were in adults 65 and up.

In mainland China, the portion of patients going to the ER with COVID has more than doubled in the last month — from 7.5% to more than 16%, public health authorities said. The portion of people in the hospital for COVID in China also doubled, to more than 6%, according to the state-run China Daily.

Despite the stats, the Beijing-controlled government in Hong Kong downplayed the variant, saying it does not appear to be more dangerous than previous variants. —>READ MORE HERE

A new Covid variant surging in Asia is now spreading across the US. Here’s where it is and what to know:

The new Covid variant is continuing to proliferate around the U.S. — although you might not know it by just checking federal variant-tracking dashboards.

Known as NB.1.8.1, the omicron variant has been tracked in states across the country following a large surge in China. Although, right now, LP.8.1 — a descendent of JN.1 — is the nation’s dominant strain.

“CDC is aware of reported cases of COVID-19 NB.1.8.1 in China and is in regular contact with international partners,” a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CBS News last week. They reportedly noted that too few U.S. sequences have been reported to be included in its dashboard.

But, in Asia, it’s resulted in increased hospitalizations and emergency room visits. So, what should Americans know about NB.1.8.1, and how worrying is its spread? Here’s what to know.

What and where is NB.1.8.1?

NB.1.8.1 has been designated a SARS-CoV-2 variant under monitoring, with increasing proportions globally, according to the World Health Organization. There are currently six tracked by the agency.

It’s spread throughout 22 countries. In the U.S., it has been traced to New York, California, Arizona, Ohio and Rhode Island, according to records from local health officials at the CDC’s airport testing partner Ginkgo Bioworks.