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The lack of Covid testing capacity in the United States could mean that the highly communicable new strain of coronavirus that first emerged in the United Kingdom is already making its way into communities in the United States.
That’s according to Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, medical director of the Special Pathogens Unit at Boston Medical Center.
“To find that strain, what we have to do is take a percentage of the samples that are diagnosed and do a deep genetic analysis, and (in) America, our capacity has not been spectacular, “said the infectious disease physician. “The News with Shepard Smith” on Monday. “If the tension is here, we could be losing it because the holes in our web are too wide.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the new variant has not been detected in the United States.
However, the agency said the viruses have only been sequenced from about 51,000 of the 17 million infections in the country. The UK has recorded the most streams with 125.00. Infections in the UK reached their second-highest daily total on Christmas Eve, with the country confirming 39,036 new cases of Covid-19 that day.
Starting Monday, the US will require all travelers flying from the UK to show proof of a negative Covid-19 test amid growing concerns about the new variant of the virus.
Dr. Bhadelia, who is also a medical contributor to NBC News, explained that the measures did not go far enough.
“There may still be people who tested negative when the tests were done, get on the plane and test positive later, so I think the tests must be linked to some kind of quarantine,” he said.
Japan has taken stricter measures and stopped all foreign arrivals. More than a dozen countries have reported cases of the fast-spreading mutation, including Canada, France, South Africa, Australia, Japan and South Korea.
Health experts from the UK and the US noted that while the new variant appears to be more transmissible, there is no evidence yet that it is more deadly. Dr. Bhadelia cautioned that the findings shouldn’t make people complacent when it comes to the new strain.
“The problem is that, although we do not believe that mortality will increase, the fact that it can be transmitted more easily is also more worrying because the more people are infected, the more people end up in hospitals. and potentially pass away, “he added.
