WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The new COVID-19 variant that was discovered in Britain has been circulating undetected in the United States and transmitted person-to-person, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week.
Henry Walke, the CDC's COVID-19 incident manager, said the new variant now circulating in the United States could further stress hospitals that are already overwhelmed with coronavirus patients.
Walke said data indicates that the new variant spreads "more easily and quickly than other strains," but it does not appear to cause more severe symptoms or an increased risk of death.
Some cases of the new variant have been found in the country's most populated states amid the busy holiday travel season. The TSA screened 1.28 million passengers at U.S. airports on Sunday following Christmas, the highest number since COVID-19 halted travel in mid-March.
According to the CDC, viruses constantly change through mutation, and preliminary analysis in the country suggests this new variant may be up to 70 percent more transmissible than previously circulating variants.
Last December was the deadliest month of the pandemic in the U.S., as hospitals reached capacity and the highly anticipated vaccine rollout ended up slower than anticipated.
The nation's top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, predicted normal life would not resume for most Americans until as late as the fall of 2021. As of now, the United States has recorded more than 20 million cases with over 350,000 related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
