Two new reports from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn that new variants of coronavirus could lead to a rapid increase in the number of Covid-19 cases.
In a report released Wednesday, investigators from the CDC and Minnesota health department detailed cases of variant B.1.1.7, first identified in the UK. Earlier modeling data suggested that this variant, which may be more transmissible, could become the predominant variant in the United States in March, and the CDC has urged people to take steps to reduce the spread.
The CDC’s weekly morbidity and mortality report described cases B.1.1.7 identified in specimens collected from eight Minnesota residents, ages 15 to 41, from mid-December to mid-January. Five reported symptoms similar to Covid-19 and three were asymptomatic.
Three of the people had a history of international travel during the two weeks prior to their illness, including two traveling to West Africa and one traveling to the Dominican Republic, and another three had traveled to California, including one who received a positive test. while in California and isolated before returning to Minnesota. None had a history of travel to the UK.
The identification of these variants in Minnesota “highlights the importance of mitigation measures such as the use of masks, physical distancing, avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated interior spaces, isolation of people with COVID-19 diagnosed, quarantine of close contacts of people with COVID-19 and adherence to CDC travel guides, ”the report says.
On Tuesday, the CDC reported that at least 1,299 cases of coronavirus strains first detected in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil have been reported in the United States. The vast majority of these cases, 1,277, are variant B.1.1.7 originally detected in the UK. This variant has been found in 41 states and Washington, DC. About a third are in Florida. Nineteen of these 1,299 are variant B.1,351 first identified in South Africa.
These figures do not represent the total number of such cases circulating in the United States, but rather only those found to be analyzing positive samples.
In a separate report released by the CDC on Wednesday, Zambian investigators described how the detection of variant B.1.351 first identified in South Africa coincided with a rapid increase in cases in Zambia, and this variant could have become the dominant strain. there.
Variant B.1.351 could be circulating elsewhere in southern Africa, where it was reported that many countries rapidly increased the number of Covid-19 cases in December and January, according to the report.
“The spread of variant B.1.351 is of public health concern due to the potential for increased transmissibility and, therefore, of cases, hospitalizations and deaths,” the researchers wrote.