Coronavirus tally: Global case tally down 6% in latest week and XBB subvariant found in 26 countries

The global tally of COVID cases fell 6% in the week through Oct. 16 from the previous week, while the number of fatalities fell 17%, the World Health Organization said in its weekly epidemiological update. The omicron BA.5 descendent lineages remained dominant, accounting for 78.9% of sequences submitted to a central database. But XBB, a BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 recombinant with 14 additional mutations in the BA.2 spike protein was reported in 26 countries. “Available preliminary laboratory-based evidence suggests that XBB is the most antibody-evasive SARS-CoV-2 variant identified to date,” said the agency, adding that for now, it does not appear to create more severe illness than other variants. The report comes as U.S. known cases of COVID are continuing to ease and now stand at their lowest level since mid-April, although the true tally is likely higher given how many people overall are testing at home, where the data are not being collected. The daily average for new cases stood at 37,999 on Wednesday, according to a New York Times tracker, down 12% from two weeks ago. The daily average for hospitalizations was down 2% at 26.629, while the daily average for deaths is down 6% to 366. Globally, the confirmed case tally rose above 626.3 million on Thursday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins, while the death toll is above 6.57 million with the U.S. leading the world with 97 million cases and 1,066,584 deaths.