COVID XFG Variant Now Makes Up Vast Majority of Cases in US: CDC

For the period between Aug. 3 and Aug. 30, XFG made up about 78 percent of cases, the CDC says.

A doctor checks a serum sample under a microscope in a microbiology lab at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, Washington on Dec. 11, 2020. Karen Ducey/Getty Images

COVID-19 cases are increasing nationwide but remain lower than last year’s numbers, according to the most recent federal data, and a variant that emerged earlier this year makes up the vast majority of U.S. cases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) variant tracking tool shows that for the period between Aug. 3 and Aug. 30, the XFG variant made up about 78 percent of cases. XFG, which was declared a strain “under monitoring” by the World Health Organization in late June, emerged earlier this year.