Coronavirus tally: Biden says COVID 'no longer controls our lives,' as global case tally nears 490 million

President Joe Biden said Wednesday the country is turning the page on the COVID-19 pandemic, as his administration took the wraps off a website that aims to help Americans deal with the pandemic. "Because of the strategy we executed over the past year on vaccinations, testing, treatments and more, we're now in a new moment in this pandemic," he said during a brief speech. "That does not mean that COVID-19 is over. It means that COVID-19 no longer controls our lives." Biden received his second booster dose of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and German partner BioNTech on Wednesday. The average number of deaths in the U.S. fell again after dipping below 800 on Tuesday for the first time since omicron took hold, according to a New York Times tracker. The seven-day average death tally stands at 702, down 44% from two weeks ago. New cases are averaging 27.621, down 12% from two weeks ago and hospitalizations are down 40% at an average of 17,092. Cases are rising again, however, in northeastern and southern states as the BA.2 subvariant of omicron continues to spread. On a global basis, total cases rose above 486.9 million and total deaths are above 6.13 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, with the U.S. still leading the way with 80 million cases and 979,870 deaths.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.