- Los Angeles County is now testing a new, more transmissible strain of coronavirus, the Los Angeles Times reported.
- The county has seen a huge increase in cases in recent weeks.
- The new strain was first discovered in the United Kingdom. Experts said there was no indication that the new strain could cause more serious illnesses.
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With the increase in coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County, authorities are now working to test samples for the new most transmissible strain of coronavirus, the Los Angeles Times reported.
On Thursday, the county saw more than 13,600 new cases and set a new death record with 148 confirmed.
Earlier this week, a new strain of coronavirus was discovered in the UK.
The new strain could be up to 70% more transmissible, said UK Health Minister Matt Hancock.
Public health experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci said the new strain is likely to be in the United States already.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if I was already here,” said Fauci in an interview with PBS NewsHour. “When we start looking, we’ll find it.”
However, some experts said there is no indication that the new strain will cause more serious illnesses or be more deadly.
Barbara Ferrer, director of public health for LA County, said a laboratory has started gene sequencing to test virus samples, but the results will not be available for about a week.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said the new variant could contribute to the spread of the virus so high. Many public health experts and officials said the spread was due in part to families defying public health guidelines to meet while on vacation.
“It happened with devastating speed,” Garcetti told the Times. “Everyone I talked to said that this acceleration was beyond any model and any expectation, so people ask, ‘What broke?’ and I have to think that it is partly the tension that existed. “
The Times also reported that the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health also sent a memo on Thursday to aks laboratories to examine recent data from positive coronavirus tests for a specific gene detection pattern.
On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also announced that travelers flying from the UK to the U.S. will have to test negative for COVID-19 three days after the flight. They stopped near a total travel ban, as some other countries did.