Public health experts warn that the new British mutant variant of the new coronavirus in the US will work to limit the spread and vaccinate people a “formidable challenge”.
The new strain, known as SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01, is feared to be 70% more transmissible and easier to spread among children.
So far, the “super-COVID” variant has been detected in only four states: California, Colorado, Florida and New York.
But scientists tell Bloomberg that there are probably “hundreds” of infections across the nation and that there must be stronger pressure to immunize people before more people become infected with or die from the new strain.
It is happening when the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday a national blockade for England, which will probably last until mid-February, as the virus continues to devastate the country.
“It’s a race, and this variant has made the whole challenge more formidable,” Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translation Institute in La Jolla, California, told Bloomberg.
“Everything we saw in 2020 in terms of a provocative virus will be taken to a new level.”
Researchers say there is now a race to immunize as many Americans as possible after a new strain of coronavirus was detected in the United States Pictured: Nurse Sandra Lindsay receives second dose of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center New York City , January 2021
This map shows how coronavirus variants have been tracked as they spread around the world. The strain, originally from the United Kingdom, known as SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01, is feared to be 70% more contagious and easier to spread among children.
Although the deadliest strain was discovered in the United States early in the vaccination, distribution was slow.
According to the CDC, since Monday morning, 15.4 million doses have been distributed and just over 4.5 million people have received their first dose.
This figure is very timid compared to the Trump administration’s plan to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of 2020.
It also appears as cases in the US with over 20 million confirmed cases – with a continuous average of over 200,000 per day – and more than 351,000 deaths.
On Sunday, hospitalizations reached a record high of 125,544, according to the COVID follow-up project.
Health officials in the UK say the virus first appeared in September and circulated in the country undetected until mid-November and has 17 mutations. In the image: 3D rendering of the new coronavirus
The new British version was first discovered after the country saw an increase in cases in early December.
It prompted Prime Minister Boris Johnson to close parts of the nation and other countries to impose travel bans.
It is currently unclear when or how the virus appeared, but researchers believe it is circulating undetected from September to mid-November.
Bloomberg reports that the new variant is responsible for at least 62 per cent of all cases of COVID-19 in London, an increase from 28 per cent in early November.
And one study found that it could be responsible for 90% of all new infections in London and East and South England by mid-January.
The variant has a set of 17 mutations – a very large number – of which the most significant is a change in the spike protein of the virus that it uses to bind to human receptors.
The researchers believe that these mutations facilitate the entry and infection of the spike protein into human cells, which is why it is more transmissible.
Dr Nick Loman, a professor of microbial genomics at the University of Birmingham, said in a December 15 briefing that there were no data to suggest the virus came from abroad, according to the BMJ.
Scientists suspect there are probably “hundreds” of infections across the country.
“If I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably hundreds of people now,” Dr. Michael Worobey, head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona, told CNN.
“It is very possible that you have reached several places several times.”
The CDC says it is currently studying how easily the new variant can be transmitted and whether currently authorized vaccines will protect people against them.
Currently, the CDC surveillance system is scaled to process 750 samples nationwide per week, and the agency is working with laboratories to sequence or genetically map 1,750 virus samples per week.
As of December 29, the CDC has commitments from these laboratories to sequence 1,750 samples per week and anticipates the possibility of increasing this number.
Dr. Gregory Armstrong, director of the Office of Advanced Molecular Detection at the CDC National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, said the CDC hopes to sequence about 6,000 samples a week.
“It’s important to monitor the virus and be able to resume these trends that have implications for public health and clinical medicine,” he told CNN.
However, there is currently no evidence that Pfizer Inc. or Moderna Inc. are unable to protect against the new strain.
“There’s good news here,” Topol told Bloomberg.
“It will not affect the effectiveness of the vaccine. That is why this race exists. If we overcome this and vaccinate everyone, if we do this quickly, we will have this virus under control.