Although new COVID-19 cases from the COVID-19 are dropping across the US and the globe, the new and more contagious coronavirus variant, also known as B.1.1.7, is likely accelerate the spread of the virus in the US. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are already more than 1,270 cases of the UK variant (B.1.1.7) across 41 states and Washington, DC, reports CNN Heath. The B.1.1.7 variant could become “the predominant variant in March” predicts the CDC.

The continued spread of variants that are more transmissible could jeopardize the progress we have made in the last month if we let our guard down. But by lowering cases, the US will give fewer opportunities for the variants to spread and fewer opportunities for new variants to emerge.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of CDC at the White House briefing (source: CNN)

Occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 Variants

As the coronavirus pandemic spreads, “the process of evolution is constant and it allows the virus to sample its environment and select changes that make it grow more efficiently. Thus, it is important to monitor viruses for such new mutations that could make them more deadly, more transmissible or both” writes Prof Richard Kuhn in The Conversation.

“Genomic sequencing allows scientists to identify SARS-CoV-2 and monitor how it changes over time into new variants, understand how these changes affect the characteristics of the virus, and use this information to predict how it might impact health.”

CDC – Genomic Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 Variants

According to the New York Times, coronavirus genomes sequencing in the US is reportedly less than 1% of the test samples, far behind than other western countries, hindering researchers to determine how prevalent the new variants are in the US.

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$200 Million “bridge” Fund for Genome Sequencing

Carole Johnson, White House Covid-19 response team testing coordinator announced at Wednesday’s White House virtual Covid briefing that federal government is enhancing its current testing efforts and capacity across the country including a “bridge” funding for genome sequencing.

“The funding will result in a three-fold increase to the CDC’s genomic sequencing capacity, bringing the US to 25,000 samples per week, which will help to quickly identify variants sooner and better target our efforts to stop the spread,” said Johnson CNN reports.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the C.D.C. director, said at a White House news conference on Wednesday:

“When we will get to 25,000 depends on the resources that we have at our fingertips and how quickly we can mobilize our partners. I don’t think this is going to be a light switch. I think it’s going to be a dial.”

“Doubling about every 10 days, the B.1.1.7 variant that emerged in Britain threatens to slow or reverse the rapid drop of new coronavirus cases. .. Other worrisome variants have also cropped up in the United States, including one that was first found in South Africa and weakens vaccines,” the Times reports.

Dr Bronwyn MacInnis, a geneticist at the Broad Institute, welcoming the plan said:

“It’s a huge step in the right direction. the ‘minimal gold standard‘ would be sequencing 5 percent of virus samples. If cases continue to fall, then 25,000 genomes a week would put the country near that threshold, which is ‘where we need to be to be detecting not only known threats, but emerging threats’.”

“Britain started a widely praised sequencing program last March, taking advantage of its nationalized health care system with a central genomics lab. It now sequences up to 10 percent of all positive coronavirus tests and delivers deep, rapid analysis of the results”, the Times reports.