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Health officials are on high alert as cases of a variant Covid-19 found in Colombia increase in southern Florida.
The B.1.621 variant now accounts for around 10% of coronavirus patients, according to Carlos Migoya, CEO of Jackson Health System.
Mr. Migoya said Local 10 News that B.1.621 is probably on the rise in South Florida because Miami serves as a “gateway” to Latin America and there is a lot of international travel between Colombia and Florida.
The B.1.621 variant is now lagging behind Delta, the most common variant in the United States, and the gamma variant.
Around 16 cases have also been recently reported in the UK. Health officials have linked most of these infections to international travel.
Public Health England said there is currently no evidence that the B.1.621 variant causes more serious illness or may elude vaccines, but is studying it to better understand the impact of mutations on the coronavirus, reports the Washington Post.
In the United States, the variant was not classified as a variant of interest or concern, as it accounted for just over 2% of cases overall in mid-July, said John Sellick, professor at the Jacobs School. of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Buffalo.
“The only time it becomes important is if it gives viruses a selective advantage, which we have seen with the delta variant,” Sellick said.
“We’ll see with this one. … What we have to see in two weeks, or in four weeks, is it going to take another turn and end up being more? he added.
“If this thing is really more transmissible and goes from 2% [of infections] at 30 percent or 60 percent; we don’t want to see that, ”continued Mr. Sellick,“ It has to be fitter than the delta variant. It should be more transmissible.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring more than 10 other variants in addition to B.1.621.
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