A handful of Asian countries that were hit later by Omicron variant surges are in different phases of their outbreaks, with South Korea seeing a possible peak.
In US developments, White House officials—bracing for a possible fresh spike in infections—warned that current funding shortfalls could block the government from buying enough COVID-19 vaccine for fourth doses for the general population.
High cases in Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong
Two days ago, South Korea's daily cases dipped below 300,000 for the first time in 10 days, raising hopes among health officials that the country might be nearing its peak, which is expected between Mar 25 and Apr 1, according to the Korea Herald.
Today the country topped 300,000 cases again, as it started the process of gradually easing restrictions, such as raising the limit for private gatherings from six to eight. Also, officials are watching if the BA.2 subvariant, which makes up 26.3% of South Korea's sequenced samples, will raise COVID levels.
Elsewhere, China's ongoing surge continues with the highest levels in more than 2 years. Today the country reported 4,594 new local cases, which includes 2,313 symptomatic infections. The hardest-hit area for cases continues to be Jilin Province, where most infections are in Changchun and Jilin City.
Roughly a fourth of the asymptomatic cases are from Shanghai, where health officials are pressing on with block-by-block mass testing in an effort to detect and reduce the spread of the virus.
Meanwhile, cases in Hong Kong appear to be declining from record daily levels in the first week of March, with 14,152 cases reported today, as Vietnam is still reporting cases at very high levels, with 131,709 more yesterday.
Not enough funds for 4th US doses
Without Congress passing a $15 billion COVID funding package, White House officials said the federal government would not have enough funds to buy fourth COVID-19 booster doses for every American who wanted one.
While officials told the Washington Post that the Biden administration has the funds to purchase boosters for adults ages 65 and older and initial vaccine series for children 5 and younger—if approved—they currently cannot buy fourth booster doses for the general population.
The Centers for Disease Control COVID Data Tracker shows that 65.4% of Americans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, 76.8% have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 44.5% of fully vaccinated Americans have received a booster dose.
COVID-19 cases in the United States continue to be significantly lower than during the Omicron surge. The nation reported 44,101 new COVID-19 cases yesterday and 1,472 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker.
The 7-day average of new daily cases is 29,612, with 1,056 daily deaths, according to the New York Times tracker.
Pediatric COVID-19 cases are also on the decline: According to the latest update from the American Academy of Pediatrics, 32,000 child COVID-19 cases were reported for the week ending Mar 17. Children represent 18.3% of new US cases.
CIDRAP News Reporter Stephanie Soucheray contributed to this story.
