The prevalence of the new BA 2.12.1 Covid strain - the most infectious version of the virus being sequenced by U.S. health officials - is continuing to grow, and while deaths from the virus are still low, some officials are warning that these infectious strains are setting up America for second half of the year dominated by the virus. The strain, which was first detected in New York last month, now makes up 42.6 percent of sequenced Covid cases in America, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention () reported on Tuesday. It is an increase from the 33 percent of cases the strain made up the prior week.This newly detected version of the virus is a sub-lineage of the BA.2 'stealth' variant, which remains the dominant strain as it makes up 56 percent of cases. The new strain is believed to have around a 27 percent growth advantage over its predecessor, and will likely take over as the nation's dominant strain by the end of the month.
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