RALEIGH, N.C. — The MAKO Medical Lab in Raleigh has identified 35 new COVID-19 variant cases in the United States, the lab's report said.
The newly released information shows variant strains in six states, including North Carolina. The B.1.1.7. "United Kingdom variant" remains the most prominent with 30 of the total cases across the U.S., but the four additional "Denmark variant" cases have been reported.
MAKO's lab results differ from the Center for Disease Control's testing results. As of Friday, Feb 4. The CDC reports 611 UK variant cases have been identified across thirty-eight states and five other variant cases were found in South Carolina or Maryland.
MAKO reports its findings directly to state health officials.
“As we continue our sequencing of indicated samples, we have found a continued rise in variant occurrences,” MAKO Vice President Steve Hoover said.
According to published reports, the B.1.1.7 variant was first detected in the United Kingdom in September and detected in several other countries as of late 2020. The B.1.351 variant emerged independently of B.1.1.7 and was initially detected in early October 2020 in South Africa. The CDC has found that the B.1.351 variant shares some mutations with B.1.1.7, and cases caused by this variant began to be identified in January 2021.
The CDC's data shows the B.1.1.7 variant is more contagious than the original COVID-19 virus that hit the United States nearly a year ago.