America’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said Tuesday that it is “certainly possible” that the new variant of coronavirus found in Britain has already made its way to the United States, as dozens of countries announced bans on it. trip from the UK.
During an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America, Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called the travel ban a “dramatic step,” but indicated that it may be a requirement to test travelers before that they reach the country.
“When you have this amount of spread in a place like the UK, you really need to assume it’s already here, and it’s certainly not the dominant strain, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it’s already here,” he said. said.
Meanwhile, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have stated that the new variant has not been identified in the United States through sequencing efforts. However, the CDC, in a scientific report posted on its website, noted that viruses have only been sequenced from around 51,000 of the 18 million Covid-19 cases recorded in the country so far. He further added that the variant could already be in the United States undetected, given the small fractions of infections that have been sequenced.
“Ongoing travel between the UK and the US, as well as the high prevalence of this variant among current UK infections, increase the likelihood of importation,” the institute of public health said.
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The United States has recorded more than 18 million Covid-19 cases and more than 319,000 related deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center. The CDC said scientists are working to learn more about this variant to better understand its impact on the rate of transmission and the efficacy of the vaccine.
Earlier, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had said that the new variant of the coronavirus is 70% more transmissible than existing strains, prompting several countries to ban travel from Britain. India has also suspended all flights from the UK, from December 22 to December 31, to contain the spread of the new Covid-19 variant, which is believed to have originated in the southeast of England.
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