First cases of South African coronavirus variant detected in US

[WASHINGTON] A highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus first identified in South Africa has been detected for the first time on US soil among two adults with no travel history and no connection to each other, officials said Thursday.

The cases were detected in South Carolina, according to a statement.

"The arrival of the SARS-CoV-2 variant in our state is an important reminder to all South Carolinians that the fight against this deadly virus is far from over," said Brannon Traxler, the interim public health director of the state's health department.

The B.1.351 variant has been identified in more than 30 countries and scientists had anticpated it could already be in the US.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a statement confirming the development, adding it was working to expand a national system to detect mutations.

Current US capacity to detect emerging strains is far behind many other developed countries.

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Scientists are more worried about this mutation than they are about the better known B.1.1.7 variant first identified in Britain, which has been seen now in dozens of US states. This is because B.1.351 seems able to elude some of the blocking action of antibodies produced by current vaccines and synthetic antibody therapies.

Though there is not yet evidence that B.1.351 causes more severe disease than the more common strains of the virus, the higher infection rate associated with the variant would likely spur an increase in hospitalisations and deaths.

On Monday, officials in Minnesota announced the first case of another more transmissible variant, P.1, in a person who had recently returned from Brazil.

AFP