US on high alert after two people test positive for new variant of Covid-19

Two people living in the US have tested positive for the new coronavirus variant.

Two people living in the US have tested positive for the new coronavirus variant.

Published Jan 28, 2021

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DURBAN - TWO people in South Carolina - with no travel history - have tested positive for the new variant of Covid-19, the Daily York Daily News reported on Thursday. According to reports, the two patients are not connected which means the spread of the new variant was already underway.

As per the report, health officials both in the US and around the world have expressed concern as multiple variants of Covid-19, believed to be more transmissible and potentially deadlier, have cropped up. A third variant, which originated in the Brazilian city of Manaus, has also appeared in the US.

According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is no evidence that infections by this variant cause more severe disease.

"CDC is early in its efforts to understand this variant and will continue to provide updates as we learn more. At this time, we have no evidence that infections by this variant cause more severe disease. Like the UK and Brazilian variants, preliminary data suggests this variant may spread more easily and quickly than other variants," the CDC said in a statement.

The institute said it will continue communicating with international, state, and local partners to monitor the presence and impact of variants in the United States and around the world.

“Monitoring variants is why CDC has expanded National Sars-CoV-2 Strain Surveillance (NS3). We continue working with national reference laboratories, state health departments and researchers from around the country to gather sequence data and increase use of genomic sequencing data in response to this pandemic,” the institute said.

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