US CDC Reports Over 50 Cases of COVID-19 Variants Detected in the United States

"Total Variant Cases in the US Likely Much Higher"
Over 70,000 More Deaths Expected by the End of This Month

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) variant in the United States has surpassed 50, raising concerns about community spread. COVID-19 continues to rage in the U.S., with nearly 4,000 deaths occurring daily, and pessimistic forecasts suggest that more than 70,000 additional deaths could occur by the end of this month.

According to foreign media including CNN, on the 7th (local time), the CDC announced that there have been 52 confirmed cases of the UK-origin variant virus in the U.S. so far. There are 26 cases in California, 22 in Florida, 2 in Colorado, and 1 each in Georgia and New York. The CDC stated, "The identified cases were compiled from virus samples already confirmed positive, so the actual number of variant virus cases circulating in the U.S. is likely much higher," adding, "We plan to more than double the number of samples tested starting next week."

Accordingly, suspicions are growing that the variant virus, which has over 70% higher transmissibility compared to the original virus, has already widely spread throughout communities in the U.S. According to CNN, U.S. experts have criticized the CDC for not increasing the number of virus sample analyses even after the first variant virus was detected in Florida on December 19 last month.

In the death toll projection released together on the same day, the CDC forecasted that COVID-19 deaths could increase to between 405,000 and 438,000 by the end of this month. Considering that the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 statistics reported a cumulative confirmed case count of 364,063 as of that day, this warns that more than 70,000 additional deaths could occur.

The spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. continues unabated and fierce, with the daily death toll reaching a new record high again on this day. The daily COVID-19 death count in the U.S. was recorded at 3,865, surpassing the previous record of 3,775 by a single day. The daily confirmed cases reached 253,145, marking the second highest number ever recorded, following 297,491 cases on the 2nd.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.