WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is keeping a close eye on the more infectious variant of COVID-19 after British officials warned it could also be more deadly, two top U.S. health officials said Saturday , warns that more data is needed.
Officials are a little more concerned about a variation from South Africa, though not yet identified among the U.S. cases of the novel coronavirus, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Francis Collins and Dr. Anthony Fauci, COVID chief of staff President Joe Biden- A medical consultant, too.
Collins noted that the UK data were predictive, and said it was not clear why those with the UK variant had a higher risk of death, whether through changes in the virus itself or causes other externalities such as pressures on the health care system.
“We will take this as something to keep a close eye on,” he told MSNBC in an interview.
Fauci separately told MSNBC that he needed to see the raw data from the UK before making a full death risk assessment and that U.S. officials were measuring how the two new series could affect vaccine effectiveness.
“These are very serious cases that we are following closely and, if necessary, we will accept it,” said Fauci. Vaccines may change in the coming months if necessary.
Their comments come as Democratic President Joe Biden reverses the country’s COVID-19 response, trying to revive the fight against the infectious disease and put an end to persuaded to stand like a war. In a series of actions since taking office Wednesday, Biden unveiled a new U.S. strategic plan to curb the uprising and signed several regulatory orders to promote vaccinations and increase mask use, among other measures.
The United States is the country hardest hit by COVID-19, with 24.70 million cases and 413,775 deaths by midnight Friday. Over the past week, an average of 3,089 Americans have died from the disease, with 20 U.S. states reporting higher deaths than this month.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Friday that the UK variable was linked to a higher mortality rate.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week warned that the UK variant, which is already circulating in at least 10 U.S. states, could become a major variant in the United States by March . The variant, known as B.1.1.7, is believed to be twice as contagious as the one circulating across the country.
“At the moment we’re not afraid of that,” Collins said, as vaccines continued to be effective against him. “We are more concerned about the diversity of South Africa.”
Fauci, the leading U.S. infectious disease expert, raised his concerns, saying data on the South African variant was slightly more “ominous” even as conventional vaccines continued to emerge to protect against both variants.
Scientists said Wednesday that the South African variant could reduce the effectiveness of routine vaccines, which also provide a chance of re-infection.
Britain has banned travelers from some African countries in a bid to stop the spread of that snort in the UK and is measuring further restrictions.
Biden has moved to impose mandatory quarantine on air travelers arriving in the United States, although details have not yet been released. It is also urging passengers heading to the U.S. to begin testing the negative COVID-19 test starting Tuesday.
Even without a greater risk of mortality, more contagious changes are increasing pressure on officials to administer vaccination to the population – an initiative that many state and local officials have said has been slow and chaotic and one Biden has promised improvement.
“As you get more cases, you get more hospitals. And when you get more hospitals, you end up getting more deaths, ”Fauci told reporters at the White House on Thursday.
Reporting by Susan Heavey and Anurag Maan, Editing by Franklin Paul and Diane Craft