NEW YORK – COVID-19 cases are rebounding in New York State as the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron contributes to the majority of infections.

The 7-day average of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people increased to 17.8 on Sunday, up from 8.2 three weeks ago, according to the latest data issued by the state’s authorities on Monday.

Meanwhile, the 7-day average of positive rate of COVID-19 testing reached 3 percent on Sunday, up from 1.4 percent on March 13.

In particular, the Central New York region looks to be a hotspot with the 7-day-average positive rate of COVID-19 testing at 9.64 percent.

New York City reported 2.21 percent of 7-day average positive rate in COVID-19 testing on Sunday, with that in Manhattan borough rising to 3.17 percent.

New York State had 2,553 people tested positive on Sunday with 1,142 from New York City.

The BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron accounted for 59.6 percent of the total samples collected from March 13 to 26, according to the health department of New York State.

“For each of us, vaccination remains our personal best line of defense against COVID. As we have seen with the recent increase of the Omicron sub-variant BA.2, COVID is still with us,” said New York State Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett on Saturday.

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul on Saturday announced eligibility for second COVID-19 vaccine booster doses and received her second booster of COVID-19 vaccine on Monday.

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