A new version of the coronavirus known as omicron is already present in five states in the United States, including California and New York, according to local health officials.
The first case was identified in California, the most populous federal state in the United States, where the number of infected reached 40 million in the middle of the week, then at least five new infections were found in a suburb of New York. An already vaccinated Minnesota man who attended an anime meeting in Manhattan in late November contracted the omicron variant, while a Colorado woman and two vaccinated Californians who had been in the South African region recently also contracted the new version of the virus. They were arrested. A Hawaiian was infected with the new variant without traveling anywhere in the recent past.
It is not yet known exactly whether the omicron version of SARS-CoV-2 is actually more contagious than previous variants, as many healthcare professionals suspect, nor whether the vaccines currently in use are effective against it.
However, the rapid US release of the new version, especially for those infected who had not recently left their homes, may mean that the Omicron version was widespread in parts of the United States even before South African doctors announced its scientifically confirmed discovery. (MTI)
