Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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New highly communicable Covid-19 variants ‘are poised to reverse the nation’s control over the pandemic’ and could undermine ‘all of our efforts’ against the disease if virus spreads in different parts of the world , said the US head. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.
US top health officials have warned in recent weeks that the emergence of highly contagious variants, particularly the B.1.1.7 strain emerging in the UK, could reverse the current downward trajectory of infections in the US and restore the nation’s recovery. the pandemic could slow. .
The problem is not only in the United States. As the coronavirus spreads, it makes massive numbers of copies of itself, and each version is slightly different from the last, experts say. As more people become infected, the more likely it is that problematic mutations will develop.
“Even if you didn’t necessarily tend to want to be a part of the global health effort, we should do that, because all the efforts that we are doing, that we are continuing here in this country, could potentially be undermined in the blink of an eye. that emerged, ”CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky Wednesday at the National Academy of Medicine and the American Public Health Association.
Scientists are not surprised by the emergence of the variants and have reiterated that currently available vaccines should still work against them, although they may not be as effective as against the original “wild” strain.
Moderna said Wednesday it has sent doses of a booster shot specifically targeting the variant spreading in South Africa, known as the B.1.351 strain, to the National Institutes of Health.
“We know this virus has no geographic boundaries and addressing this reality is more urgent than ever before given the rapid spread of Covid-19 variants that will reverse the progress made to contain this pandemic”, Walensky said.
The US reports a weekly average of about 71,562 new Covid-19 cases per day, a 12% drop from a week ago and a significant drop from when the average number of new cases in the US peaked in early January reached of nearly 250,000 cases per day. , according to a CNBC analysis of data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
While not every country reports similar declines, global Covid-19 cases in the US have declined for six consecutive weeks from Sunday, according to the latest World Health Organization baseline report released Tuesday.
The drop is welcome news as countries rush to administer their first doses of Covid-19 vaccines. While some countries have been giving vaccines since December, some are just starting to get their first injections.
The first shipment of vaccines delivered through the World Health Organization’s COVAX program arrived in Ghana on Wednesday. Some experts have previously said that equitable distribution of vaccines could be too late, as wealthier countries have struck their own deals with vaccine manufacturers claiming to have initially delivered doses.
“The Covid-19 pandemic is still a great reminder of how closely we are as a global community,” Walensky said.
– CNBC’s Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and Natasha Turak contributed to this report.