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The COVID-19 strain first discovered in the UK is doubling in the US every 10 days, posing a potential risk for increased cases and deaths in the country, according to a study published on Sunday
A group of researchers have estimated that the UK variant, called B.1.1.7, is spreading at an increased transmission rate of 35-45% and is expected to become the predominant strain in the US by March. The study, posted on the medRxiv server, has not yet been peer reviewed or published in a medical journal.
“Our study shows that the United States is on a similar trajectory to other countries where B.1.1.7 has rapidly become the dominant variant of SARS-CoV-2, requiring immediate and decisive action to minimize morbidity and COVID-19 mortality, “the study said. .
Scientists have determined from half a million COVID-19 tests and 212 genomes that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) prediction the British strain would become the most prevalent variant of the coronavirus in the United States by March.
Kristian Andersen, study co-author and virologist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., Told The New York Times that “nothing in this article is surprising, but people need to see it.”
Researchers believe that the British strain, first announced by the British government on December 20, appeared in the United States as early as November 2020. The first case was confirmed in the United States in Colorado on December 29 and s’ has since spread to at least 33 states, according to CDC.
The strain first found in the UK has been introduced to the US at least eight times on different occasions, potentially due to increased Thanksgiving and Christmas travel between the two countries, according to the study.
Using their genome sequencing with test results from laboratory testing company Helix, analysts determined their prediction of the speed of the coronavirus variant spread around the United States. Helix was contracted by the CDC to inspect samples of the British strain.
Scientists predict that the strain accounts for a higher percentage of COVID-19 cases in some states such as Florida, where 4.5% of cases are estimated to be from the variant.
Overall, the British variant is estimated to account for 2% of all cases in the United States, meaning that 1,000 more people could contract the blood pressure each day, the Times noted.
The CDC has reported 611 B.1.1.7 cases in the United States, but the number is expected to be much higher due to the complicated method of confirming that a case was from a British strain.
In total, the United States has counted nearly 27 million cases and more than 463,000 deaths from COVID-19, with January recording the most deaths and the highest average of hospitalizations for coronavirus than any other month of the pandemic.
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