Photographer: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg
Photographer: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg
The Covid-19 variant that emerged in the UK and raised concerns about faster spread could become dominant in the US as early as March, government public health researchers said in a report.
Several lines of evidence indicate that the strain spreads faster than other versions, and measures must be taken to reduce its transmission, including increased genomic surveillance and adherence to public health measures, such as testing and wearing a mask, the Center said. United States Disease Control and Prevention Program Friday report.
“Increased transmission of SARS-CoV-2 can threaten depleted health resources, require a more extensive and rigorous implementation of public health strategies and increase the percentage of population immunity needed to control the pandemic,” said the report .
The variant, called B.1.1.7, has already been detected in the USA, with about 76 confirmed cases in the country so far, according to the CDC. The agency’s projection was based on models that showed rapid growth of the variant earlier this year, which could further hamper the implementation of Covid-19 vaccines, which was marked by missed deadlines and underutilized supplies.
The variant currently accounts for less than about 0.5% of circulating viruses, the agency estimated in the report, although the exact prevalence of B.1.1.7 in the US is not currently known.
Blocking in the UK
UK health officials attributed a recent increase in cases to the variant’s ability to spread and imposed restrictive blocking measures. British chief physician Chris Whitty warned that, although he expects “things will get better in the spring,” the variant could make it difficult for the economy to reopen.
The variant “has the potential to increase the trajectory of the pandemic in the United States in the coming months,” said the report.
Viruses mutate frequently and variants are expected, but new variants could potentially take forms that would escape current tests and therapies for Covid-19. Variant B.1.1.7 is one of several that have been detected worldwide, although neither a variant known as B.1.351 found in South Africa nor another variant called B.1.1.28 has been found in the US until mid- January, said the CDC.
The high contagiousness of variant B.1.1.7 requires even stricter application of public health measures such as vaccination, detachment, masking and hand washing to control the spread, said the CDC. These public health measures must be taken “sooner or later” to contain their spread, and the health care system must be prepared for new spikes in cases, the regulator said.
“Increased transmissibility also means that greater-than-expected vaccination coverage must be achieved to achieve the same level of disease control to protect the public compared to less communicable variants,” said the report.
The CDC also said it is working with partners in academia, industry and at the state and local level to sequence the genomes of the virus, which can detect the appearance of new strains.
(Updates with details of the report and UK spread from the fourth paragraph)