CDC chief concerned over spread of Covid-19 variants, says all recent gains will be lost

Twenty nine out of 50 states reported more new infections last week compared to the previous seven days, whereas only seven states in the prior week reported weekly increases, according to Reuters.

The director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States has said that all the gains recently made by the country against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) will be lost by the new variants which are emerging. CDC chief Dr Rochelle Walensky also told CNN that the average death rate has increased due to the spread of the new variants.

A sign alerts people to a closed business in Manhattan on March 1, in New York. The city is still suffering from a lack of tourists and workers who have not returned in large numbers since the pandemic outbreak. (AFP Photo)

Dr Walensky asked the people "to be strong", "continue wearing face masks" and follow the other protocols needed to prevent themselves from the disease. She also expressed concern about the relaxations being offered in some states. "We stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained," she said.

Among the new variants that are spreading fast in the US is the one that emerged in New York City in November. So far, 735 cases of the new variant have been identified, including 585 in the last two weeks, according to federal health officials.

The mutation has travelled extensively through the metropolitan New York region, and individual cases have also been found in 14 other states, including Texas, Wyoming and Maryland, Gregory Armstrong, director of the CDC's Advanced Molecular Detection Programme, told Bloomberg.

Anthony Fauci, the top medical adviser to US President Joe Biden, said at a briefing on Monday that the variant is known scientifically as B.1.526 and it started off in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. It is one of five concerning variants now being tracked nationally by health officials.

Twenty nine out of 50 states reported more new infections last week compared to the previous seven days, whereas only seven states in the prior week reported weekly increases, according to analysis by news agency Reuters.

New York had the highest number of new cases per 100,000 residents last week, followed by New Jersey and South Carolina, said Reuters.

As of Sunday, 15% of the US population has received at least one dose of a vaccine and 7.5% has received two doses, according to the CDC. The country administered an average of 1.6 million shots per day last week.