The new Covid-19 variant is seeing an increase in cases in some countries. Here – National

Covid-19 cases are rising again as new variants begin to circulate in some parts of the world. The World Health Organization said the increase in Wednesday's incidents will be mainly in the Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region.

Airport screening in the US has detected new variants of travelers arriving at destinations in California, Washington, Virginia and New York.

The new variant is called NB.1.8.1. It arrives as the official US stance on Covid-19 vaccination is changing. On Tuesday, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that Covid-19 shots will no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women.

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The new variant, which is increasing worldwide, reached almost 11% of the reported sequence samples by mid-May. The WHO has designated it as a “surveillance variant” and considers it to be a low risk to public health at a global level where current vaccines are expected to be effective.

The WHO said some Western Pacific countries have reported an increase in community cases and hospitalizations, but so far there is nothing to suggest that the disease associated with the new variant is more severe compared to other variants.

The variant, called Lp.8.1, is currently the dominant version of the US and the world.