WASHINGTON: A new, more contagious strain of the coronavirus has now spread to at least eight U.S. states, official data showed Friday, while the country recorded a new daily virus outbreak record.
The B117 coronavirus strain, which appeared in Britain at the end of last year, has been shown to be between 40 and 70 per cent more contagious than previously released strains.
Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Friday showed that the strain – first reported in the U.S. last week – has been found in eight states, with California and Florida the worst. .
The strain was also found in Colorado, Texas, New York, Georgia, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, in a total of 63 cases.
U.S. leading infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci told Newsweek on Wednesday that the variant could be “more widespread in the United States than we currently see it to be. ”
“I’m sure he’s here, we haven’t found him yet. And I think it’s very clear if it’s in places like California, and New York and Colorado … very soon that will be in a number of additional states, “he said.
The outbreak of B117 and several other South African infectious agents, known as B1351, has frightened a new similar snoring outbreak in the US.
But U.S. officials on Friday denied reports that a man had been found so far.
“Researchers have been monitoring US rays since the outbreak of the pandemic, including 5,700 samples collected in November and December,” a spokesman said. CDC, Jason McDonald, to CNBC.
“To date, CDC researchers and analysts have not seen any significant variation in the United States as seen when B.1.1.7 appeared in the United Kingdom or B.1.351 in South Africa.”
Nearly 290,000 new coronavirus diseases were reported in the U.S. within 24 hours Friday according to Johns Hopkins University, a day after the worst country in the world recorded a high rate of nearly 4,000 deaths.