CHICAGO (Reuters) – A new highly transmissible variant of coronavirus first discovered in Britain could become the dominant variant in the United States in March, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Friday.
The variant, known as B.1.1.7, is believed to be twice as contagious as the current version of the virus circulating in the United States. To date, 76 people from ten U.S. states have been infected with the UK variant.
Its rapid spread will increase the burden on health resources at a time when infections are increasing, further undermining scarce health resources and increasing the need for better adherence to mitigation strategies, such as social distancing and use. of masks, according to the CDC in its weekly. report on death and illness.
The highly contagious variant also increases the percentage of the population that must be vaccinated to achieve protective herd immunity to control the pandemic, the CDC said.
“Increasing the transmissibility of variant B.1.1.7 justifies a rigorous implementation of public health strategies to reduce transmission and decrease the potential impact of B.1.1.7, buying critical time to increase coverage of vaccination, ”U.S. health officials wrote.
The variant, which includes several genetic changes, allows the virus to be passed from person to person. The changes are not believed to cause more serious illnesses, but the higher transmission rate would mean more cases and more deaths, according to the CDC.
Reports by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Paul Simao and Nick Macfie