U.S. lawmakers moved to the brink Thursday of agreeing on a bipartisan compromise to provide a fresh $10 billion to combat COVID-19, a deal that could set up final congressional approval next week, the Associated Press reported. The effort, which would finance steps like vaccines, treatments and tests, comes as President Joe Biden has warned the government is running out of money to counter the pandemic. At the same time, the more transmissible omicron variant BA.2 has been spreading quickly in the U.S. and abroad. The U.S. is averaging 27,846 cases a day, according to a New York Times tracker, down 8% from two weeks ago. But cases are rising in states in the Northeast and South as BA.2 spreads fast. The country is averaging 16,881 hospitalizations a day, down 31% from two weeks ago. The daily death toll has fallen below 700 to 698. On a global basis, total cases rose above 488.5 million and total deaths are above 6.14 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, with the U.S. still leading the way with 80.1 million cases and 980,627 deaths.
Source: Marketwatch
