State health officials in Colorado announced on Tuesday that they had identified the first confirmed case of a COVID-19 variant of rapid spread first identified in the UK. The strain, which is believed to be more contagious, has been associated with an increase in cases in Britain and has also spread to several other countries around the world.
Colorado officials said the case was identified by the state’s public health laboratory as a 20-year-old man with no “travel history”. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have also been notified of the case, according to state health officials.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is aware of the Colorado report on the first case in the United States associated with the COVID-19 variant in the United Kingdom,” said CDC spokesman Belsie González, via e -mail.
“In addition to the case reported in Colorado, we hope that there are other cases that are likely to be detected in the next few days,” said González.
Public and private laboratories across the country have increased sequencing efforts to research the UK variant, called B.1.1.7. Public health officials in the UK have warned that it appears to be more transmissible than other strains of COVID-19.
“The fact that Colorado first detected this variant in the country is testament to the sophistication of Colorado’s response and the talent of CDPHE’s scientists and laboratory operations,” said Jill Hunsaker Ryan, executive director of the Department of Public Health and Environment from Colorado.
Public health laboratories routinely identify coronavirus variants in patients with COVID-19, although many mutations in the virus do not affect the way it spreads or the symptoms it causes.
Colorado health officials said they were conducting contact tracking of the individual case, although they added that the individual was “currently in isolation” and “has no close contacts identified so far”.
On Monday, the Trump administration tax a new requirement for UK travelers to test negative for COVID-19 before embarking on flights to the U.S.
US health officials have repeatedly warned that the variant was likely already circulating here, although public health laboratories have not yet identified any cases. Unlike the United Kingdom, the United States has sequenced only a small percentage of COVID-19 cases, so the variants here are likely to escape detection.
As reports on the new UK variant emerged earlier this month, the CDC said that only 51,000 of the 17 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States were sequenced.
Preliminary results published by researchers in the UK this week found that the COVID-19 variant appeared to be more transmissible, but not more deadly. It also does not seem to lead to more hospitalizations, nor does it increase the likelihood of reinfection.
Both Pfizer and Moderna said they believe their COVID-19 vaccines will also offer protection against B.1.1.7., Saying they have often tested their vaccines against new variants of the virus.