New COVID variable may be in the US since October 2020

A re-analysis of two million COVID-19 tests conducted in the United States in recent months raises new questions about the origin of the most contagious mutation B117 “type from Great Britain” and suggests it may already be widespread.

According to The Guardian, a version of COVID-19 that carries some of the same mutations as the highly contagious British version may have been in the United States since October and is already widespread, suggests re-analysis of more than two million tests in the United States.

The sequence of the virus genome has been done for some time by scientists from California's DNA testing company, “Helik” to confirm whether the mutation observed in Americans is the same as the so-called B117 that is currently being circulated in Great Britain.

Helik is currently co-operating with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as the results of a study found in the US are expected.

The results are expected within a few days, but findings have raised new questions about where the modified virus comes from, including the small possibility it has started in the United States, not in the United Kingdom or elsewhere. The vaccine has also been found in at least 17 countries, including South Korea, Spain, Australia and Canada.

It's also possible that the version originated from the U.S., and then spread to Great Britain, although this is unlikely, given that the B117 version appears to be more represented in England.

The government is convinced that the version of the virus's most contagious species has circulated in Great Britain since September.