UK variant could dominate in U.S. by March, CDC

A new, highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus first discovered in Britain could become the dominant variant in the United States by March, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Friday.

Freddie Joyner has more.

The worldwide coronavirus death toll surpassed 2 million people on Friday, as nations around the world are racing to inoculate their populations as new variants of COVID-19 are increasingly detected.

In the U.S., a more transmissible variant of the coronavirus first discovered in Britain has now been found in 10 states.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday warned that it could become the dominant circulating variant in the United States by March.

The variant is believed to be twice as contagious as the current version of the virus circulating in the US.

So far, 76 people from 10 U.S. states have been infected with the U.K. variant.

The CDC said the highly contagious variant also increases the percentage of the population that needs to be vaccinated to achieve protective herd immunity to control the pandemic.

And while a vaccine rollout is underway, officials warn the situation is likely to get worse before it turns around.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming chief of staff Ron Klain said on Friday he expects the United States to hit 500,000 COVID-19 deaths next month.