US reports over 6,000 coronavirus variants infections

WASHINGTON - Over 6,000 infection cases of coronavirus variants have been reported in the United States as of Sunday, according to the latest data of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The vast majority of these cases, 6,390, were caused by the variant known as B.1.1.7, which was originally detected in Britain.

"Why the stall? Suspect B.1.1.7 is now starting to really have an effect," Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University's School of Public Health wrote on Twitter last week.

There were 194 cases of a new strain initially discovered in South Africa, called B.1.351, and 54 cases of the P.1 strain first discovered in Brazil.

In addition, the B.1.427 and B.1.429 variants, two coronavirus strains first detected in California, are also being closely monitored by the CDC.

The five coronavirus strains are currently classified by the CDC as "variants of concern", as evidence shows an increase in their transmissibility, increased hospitalizations or deaths, significant reduction in neutralization by antibodies generated during previous infection or vaccination, reduced effectiveness of treatments or vaccines, or diagnostic detection failures.

The CDC and its partners are increasing the numbers of specimens sequenced in laboratories around the country, according to the agency.

Viruses constantly change through mutation. Currently, multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 have been documented in the United States and globally.

Public health officials said protective measures like mask use, physical distancing, hand hygiene and prompt vaccination can help prevent against COVID-19 infections and emerging strains.

At the same time, the country has been continuously escalating its immunization rate, which stands at over 2.1 million per day.

Some 40 million people or 12 percent of the total population are now fully vaccinated, and over 113 million shots have been administered in total.

Jha said he was heartened by the ever-increasing pace, but worried as some states were loosening public health restrictions too fast, such as mask mandates and capacity limits in restaurants and businesses.

"Am I sure we'll see cases rise? No, but worried," he said.

"Let's finish vaccinating high risk folks Then smartly relax public health measures."

2021年2月25日，在美国加利福尼亚州洛杉机的马丁·路德·金社区医院，人们排队等待冠状病毒(新冠肺炎)疫苗接种。[图片/机构]华盛顿——根据美国疾病控制和预防中心(CDC)的最新数据，截至周日，美国已报告超过6000例冠状病毒变异体感染病例。这些病例中的绝大多数，6390例，是由最初在英国发现的称为B.1.1.7的变异体引起的。“为什么摆地摊？布朗大学公共卫生学院院长阿希什·贾上周在推特上写道:“嫌疑人B.1.1.7现在开始真正发挥作用了。”。最初在南非发现了194例称为B.1.351的新菌株，在巴西首次发现了54例P1菌株。此外，B.1.427和B.1.429变异体，这两种冠状病毒菌株首次在加州发现，也正受到疾控中心的密切监测。这五种冠状病毒株目前被疾控中心归类为“令人担忧的变异体”，因为有证据表明，它们的传播率增加，住院或死亡人数增加，以前感染或接种疫苗时产生的抗体中和作用显著降低，治疗或疫苗的有效性降低，或者诊断检测失败。据该机构称，疾病预防控制中心及其合作伙伴正在增加全国各地实验室测序的样本数量。病毒通过变异不断变化。目前，SARS-CoV-2的多种变体已在美国和全球范围内得到记录。公共卫生官员表示，口罩使用、身体距离、手部卫生和及时接种疫苗等保护措施有助于预防新冠肺炎感染和新出现的菌株。与此同时，该国一直在不断提高其免疫率，目前每天超过210万。大约4000万人，即总人口的12%，现在已经完全接种疫苗，总共注射了超过1.13亿针。贾说，他对不断加快的步伐感到鼓舞，但担心一些州放松公共卫生限制的速度过快，如餐馆和企业的口罩授权和容量限制。“我确定我们会看到病例上升吗？没有，但很担心，”他说。"让我们为高危人群接种疫苗，然后明智地放松公共卫生措施.