WASHINGTON — Unidentified variants of the coronavirus that are more contagious than those that first spread in the United States may be fueling an explosion in cases and the rising death toll, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Friday.
In an interview with McClatchy, Redfield, who is a virologist, said he wasn’t surprised that highly contagious forms of the virus had emerged with multiple mutations in the United Kingdom and South Africa, and were showing up in the United States.
The U.K. variant drove a nationwide lockdown in Britain, and has been found in at least seven jurisdictions across the United States. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday issued an alert warning that many existing tests may not pick up the coronavirus in its British form, known as B.1.1.7.
