According to a new report, a more contagious strain of the coronavirus that has been confirmed in three U.S. states has been in the country since October.
According to researchers, a mutation of the virus identified in the US appears to be similar to the B117 variant of the bug – the so-called ‘British variant’ – which may have originated even in America, the Guardian reported in said a report.
The more easily transmissible strain has been identified since Friday in patients in California, Colorado and Florida, the newspaper said.
“It would not be at all surprising if at least some of the cases were B117,” said researcher Eric Topol, head of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California.
“It’s probably been here at low levels for a while, but you only see it when you look for it,” Topol said.
British officials announced on December 14 the existence of a variant of the global pandemic, which asked at least 17 countries to announce travel bans from the UK.
On Thursday, Florida became the third U.S. state to identify a similar variant – they joined California and Colorado, which reported cases earlier this week.
The discovery prompted scientists from California DNA testing company Helix to review 2 million COVID-19 tests, which determined that a similar gene pattern to the mutated virus had existed in some samples since October, the Guardian said.
Helix is working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine the extent of the occurrence of the variant in the country.
“If we look at the (B117 variant), we might see if it was introduced to the U.S. once or several times, or if it was further mutated,” said Nicole Washington, co-director of research at Helix. .
“If all the monsters have it, it’s probably been here for a while,” she said. “But if only one or two samples have it, it may be that it was recently launched, and we’re just beginning to see it spread.”
Scientist said there is also a possibility – although unlikely – that the variant originated in the US and not in Britain.