US vice president Kamala Harris will serve as acting president while President Joe Biden is under anesthesia for a routine colonoscopy, the White House has said.
“As was the case when President George W Bush had the same procedure in 2002 and 2007, and following the process set out in the Constitution, President Biden will transfer power to the Vice President for the brief period of time when he is under anesthesia,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. “The Vice President, Kamala Harris will work from her office in the West Wing during this time.”
Mr. Biden arrived at the Walter Reed Medical Centre on Friday for his annual physical, his first while serving as president.
Ms. Psaki added that the White House will release a report on Mr. Biden’s health later on Friday.
The physical was not initially on the public presidential schedule but was announced hours before Mr Biden left the White House at around 8.30am. He arrived at the hospital in Maryland at 8.51am.
Mr. Biden, who turns 79 on Saturday, is the oldest person in US history to hold the office of president.
Before Mr. Biden, Mr. Trump was the oldest president in history at the time of his swearing-in. Mr. Trump was 70 years old when he took office in January 2017.
Fellow Republican President Ronald Reagan was the oldest before Mr. Trump. Mr. Reagan was 69 when he took office in 1981 and 77 when he left office in 1989. Mr. Biden took office at the age of 78.
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The Russian energy giant Gazprom says it has cut off all gas deliveries to both Bulgaria and Poland after both countries refused to start paying for the supplies in roubles.
Earlier, both Polish and Bulgarian energy providers said they had received official notices from the Russian gas supplier that deliveries were due to be cut.
Gazprom’s announcement comes after some confusion earlier this morning, when data showed gas supplies into Poland through Belarus temporarily reduced to zero before resuming.
According to recent reports, the latest version of the Omicron variant, known as BA.2, is officially the most dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S.
The new Omicron variant accounts for more than 50% of all new cases—it’s also been described by health experts as “highly contagious.”
BA.2, the new Omicron variant that led to a surge of new COVID-19 cases in Europe, has now overtaken the U.S. as the most dominant version of the virus throughout the country. This latest data estimate is from a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, predicted that BA.2 would quickly become dominate in the U.S
The first case of the BA.2 was initially identified in the U.S. back in December. Meanwhile, scientists have been closely watching BA.2—which is now the third of the genetically distinct varieties of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The rapid growth of BA.2 is due partially to its eight gene mutations that spike protein on the virus’s surface, something that is not found in the previous strain, BA.1.
Although BA.2 is more transmissible than BA.1, as of now there are no signs that it causes more severe illness and it’s shown that vaccines continue to protect against the worst outcomes.
Many U.S. health officials said that they expect cases to rise and are firmly blaming U.S. residents for not doing enough to prevent another potential surge of COVID-19.
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