The United States has reported at least 618 cases of COVID-19 variants from the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa in 33 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Of that total, 611 are the most contagious British variant known as B.1.1.7, of which there have been 187 cases in Florida and 145 in California, the CDC reported in an update Thursday.
There are five cases of variant B.1.351, which was first detected in South Africa. Three of them are in Maryland and two in South Carolina.
Meanwhile, two cases of strain P.1 from Brazil to Minnesota were identified, according to the CDC.
The 618 cases, based on a sample of positive specimens, “do not represent the total number of cases of lineages B.1.1.7, B.1.351 and P.1 that may be circulating in the United States and that do not match figures reported by states, territories, tribes and local officials, ”the agency noted.