SAN DIEGO — As the number of coronavirus cases continues to climb in San Diego County, in parts of Great Britain it is now spiking even more sharply due to a newly-discovered strain of the virus that seems to spread more easily.
While this mutation has also been detected in some other parts of Europe and Australia, it has so far not been found in the United States.
Already, a growing number of countries, including Canada, France, Germany and Israel have now suspended flights from Britain for the time being. However, the United States has, at this point, not opted to restrict travel from the UK.
"It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you that we can not continue with Christmas as planned," British Prime Minister announced to Britons.
As this new mutant strain of coronavirus has led to a sharp spike in the number of new COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Great Britain, the United Kingdom is now under a strict lockdown.
Meanwhile, shipping trucks from Britain are backed up for miles as France has blocked freight transport across the English Channel, and travelers are scrambling to try to leave.
"I hope the federal government takes action in this space. They should," said Governor Gavin Newsom. "In the absence of that, we will be pursuing different strategies."
Those possible strategies, according to Newsom, include quarantining and testing visitors from the UK, although he did not divulge specifics.
While there is no evidence that this strain has been detected so far anywhere in the United States, scientists in California are currently testing as many as 10,000 COVID-19 samples a day to look for any mutations.
"Frankly, we are concerned because of the unknown," said California Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly,
Ghaly called this new strain "more sticky" which appears to bind and enter cells more easily than the COVID-19 virus seen here in the United States.
"It means that exposure to someone with the new strain may mean you are more likely to get infected than if you were exposed to someone with the current strain," Ghaly added.
While this new strain does seem to have a higher rate of transmissibility, experts said that it so far does not appear to be more dangerous or deadly, nor does it seem that this new variant will have an impact on the vaccines now being rolled out.
"This is not the time to panic," said infectious disease expert Dr. Shira Doron. "In all likelihood, this is just another mutation that lead to another strain, and that is what we have seen throughout the pandemic."
In fact, World Health Organization officials said that, at this point, they have discovered roughly 4,000 mutations of Covid-19, and that the two approved vaccines are believed to prevent all of them.