The US has reported at least 618 cases of COVID-19 variants from the UK, Brazil and South Africa across 33 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Of that total, 611 are the more contagious UK variant known as B.1.1.7, of which there have been 187 cases in Florida and 145 in California, the CDC said in a Thursday update.
There are five cases of the B.1.351 variant, which was first detected in South Africa. Three of them are in Maryland and two are in South Carolina.
Meanwhile, two cases of the P.1 strain from Brazil were identified in Minnesota, according to the CDC.
The 618 cases, which are based on a sampling of positive specimens, “do not represent the total number of B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.1 lineage cases that may be circulating in the United States and may not match numbers reported by states, territories, tribes, and local officials,” the agency noted.
