CHICAGO (Reuters) – A new highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus, first discovered in Britain, could become the dominant variant in the United States in March, the United States 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. So far, 76 people from 10 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 depleted health resources and increasing the need for better adherence to mitigation strategies, such as social distance and wearing a mask, said the CDC in its weekly death and illness report.
The highly contagious variant also increases the percentage of the population that needs to be vaccinated to obtain protective herd immunity to control the pandemic, the CDC said.
“Increasing the transmissibility of variant B.1.1.7 ensures the rigorous implementation of public health strategies to reduce transmission and lessen the potential impact of B.1.1.7, saving critical time for increasing vaccination coverage,” wrote the US health officials.
The variant, which includes several genetic changes, makes the virus more capable of being transmitted from person to person. The changes are not believed to cause more serious illness, but the higher rate of transmission will mean more cases and more deaths, the CDC said.
Julie Steenhuysen reports; Edition by Paul Simao and Nick Macfie