Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, confirmed Sunday that President Biden was infected with the highly transmissible BA.5 subvariant of the coronavirus but said the president is “doing just fine” as he continues to isolate.

The BA.5 subvariant has been fueling a rise in new COVID-19 cases in numerous states and makes up roughly 80% of infections, Jha said, though most public health officials and state and local leaders have stopped short of reimposing mask mandates.

“Thank goodness, our vaccines and therapeutics work well against it, which is why I think the president’s doing well,” Jha said in an interview with “Face the Nation.” “I checked in with his team late last night. He was feeling well. He had a good day yesterday. He’s got a viral syndrome, an upper respiratory infection, that is, and he’s doing just fine.” Jha said Mr. Biden was “feeling much, much better” on Saturday night.

In addition to continuing to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization officially declared monkeypox a “public health emergency of international concern,” the highest level of alert.

“Right now we have over 2,000 cases, but we have ramped up vaccinations, ramped up treatments, ramped up testing, and we’re going to continue to look at all sorts of policy options,” he said. “Right now, we think we can get our arms around this thing, but obviously, if we need further tools, we will invoke them as we need them,” Jha added.

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