Latest COVID variant report shows strain found in U.K. increasing

The more infectious and possibly deadlier variant of COVID-19 first detected in the United Kingdom, known as B.1.1.7 made up a majority of cases sequenced in the past week in Connecticut, the latest numbers released Thursday show.

B.1.1.7 made up more than 60 percent of cases genomically sequenced by researchers at Jackson Laboratory and the Yale School of Public Health.

The variant is thought to spread between people more easily by about 50 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And a study published in February found the strain also likely results in a higher risk of hospitalization and death.

As of Thursday, 1,033 cases of B.1.1.7 have been confirmed in Connecticut, up 9.6 percent from the week before.

If anything, the numbers put that variant behind schedule — the CDC had predicted the variant would become the predominant strain in the U.S. in March.

In the U.K., the variant caused the country to go into a second lockdown over the winter as the variant rapidly expanded to become the dominant strain.

“While we expect B.1.1.7 to continue this trend until it dominates (like in the UK), the good news is that we are seeing a reduction in both B.1.1.7 and non-B.1.1.7 cases,” Nathan Grubaugh, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, wrote in a tweet Thursday.

Those numbers put the B.1.1.7 variant firmly ahead of two strains first detected in New York state, known as B.1.526 and B.1.526.1, which together made up a little under 19 percent of cases sequenced in the past week.

While the strain that originated in the U.K. is classified as a “variant of concern” by the CDC, the two strains first detected in New York are considered variants “of interest,” meaning they have limited expansion, but may be linked to outbreaks or have genetic markers that could allow them to escape treatments or transmit more easily.