California officials on Monday revealed more details about the new strain of self-produced coronavirus that could be partly responsible for a sharp rise in cases and deaths in the state.
Two research groups discovered variant B1429 while searching for the highly contagious variant B117, which has been linked to the UK, officials said at a news conference.
The California mutation, which is said to be found in the same “family tree” as the UK variant, has been reported in 456 cases across the Golden State, Gov. Gavin Newsom said.
But the governor warned that the actual number of cases is likely to be much higher.
According to the LA Times, about a quarter of the viral samples collected late last year in Los Angeles and northern California by two different groups contained the new strain.
Newsom said the state is still working to see if strain B1429 leads to worse infections.
“We’re still working, is it a unique COVID variant in California?” Or is it something else? Again, we are still working on it. We work through its virulence, we work through its transmissibility to investigate further understanding, ”said the Democratic governor.
Health officials are still determining whether the actions of the new variant are more contagious than the usual strain, like its British counterpart.
“It simply came to our notice then [B1429] it adheres to the human cell a little more than the natural virus we have been dealing with. That could make it more contagious, we’re not sure yet, we’re looking at it, “said Mark Ghaly, California’s secretary of health and human services.
Cases have risen recently, while 35 percent of the total 37,121 coronavirus deaths in California have occurred in the past month, according to Johns Hopkins Medical Center.
Ghaly said a combination of holiday travel and the “curve” of the new variant may be to blame.
“Look, I grew up and played sports all my life, [it] it depended on trying to understand my opponent, ”Ghaly said.
“We have a rival we have never seen. We don’t have a game film in COVID-19, we don’t know what it will do, so we have to be constantly watching the works of the day to understand what will come tomorrow ”.
Despite warnings, Newsom on Monday lifted the order to stay at the state house, which had been imposed last month
Officials say it’s unclear if a new vaccine is needed to fight strain B1429, but urge Californians to remain inoculated with current shots.