January 8, 2021
1 min read

Report: Mutant Strain Was In US By Dec

The new more transmissible coronavirus variant which was was first discovered in Britain, was likely to have been present in the US by December 2020, and could already be in every American by state now, a media report said.

The report posted on the Business Insider website on Wednesday said that more than 30 cases of the new variant have been reported in the five states of California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia and New York, Xinhua news agency reported.

“But in all likelihood, the variant entered the US long before these infections were detected and has been spreading silently for weeks,” it said.

Charles Chiu, a professor of infectious diseases at University of California, San Francisco, was quoted in the report as saying that the variant “is circulating in our community now” as none of the infected people have recently travelled abroad.

Chiu said that the variant was introduced into the country “in early December or shortly afterwards”, and “it’s very likely that it’s in every state”, according to the report.

The professor also noted that it was “unlikely” that the new virus strain contributed hugely to recent spike of Covid-19 cases in the US.

“It doesn’t appear that this strain is prevalent, at least not currently,” the expert was quoted as saying in the report.

“But if this strain is indeed more transmissible, we may start seeing increasing proportion of infections by this strain,” he added.

While the variant does not appear to cause more severe disease in people who are infected and current vaccines should still work against it, it could lead to more hospitalisations as a result of an increase in cases, said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week.

As of Thursday morning, the US has registered a total of 21,292,109 coronavirus cases and 360,999 deaths.

The two tallies account for the highest in the world.

Also Read-India sees huge surge in pharma exports

Read More-Pak court orders arrest of JeM chief Azhar

Previous Story

India sees huge surge in pharma exports

Next Story

Xi calls for ‘breakthroughs in reform’

Latest from -Top News

Pak Army Chief Targets India Again

This is not the first time that Munir has indulged in loose talk, exhibiting conduct unbecoming an officer….reports Asian Lite News Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir on

Yunus Must Be Treated Like Hasina, Warn Islamists

Islamist group made these warnings to the interim government, terming the women’s reform body proposals as “anti-Islamic…reports Asian Lite News The radical Islamist group in Bangladesh, Hefazat-e-Islam, has issued a threat, stating

UN: Bring Pahalgam Terrorists to Justice

The members of the Security Council “stressed that those responsible for these killings should be held accountable..reports Asian Lite News The Security Council has “condemned in the strongest terms” the Pahalgam terrorist

Vatican Hosts Final Rites for Pope Francis

The Argentine-born pontiff, the first from Latin America, died less than a month after returning home from a prolonged five-week hospitalisation for double pneumonia….reports Asian Lite News In an outpouring of global
Go toTop