<Anchor> The
spread of the mutant virus is unusual in the United States.
Although the spread of the coronavirus has slowed a little this year due to vaccinations, etc., there are concerns that another great spread will come in March.
This is Kim Jong-won from New York.
<Reporter> The
recent corona crisis in the United States is gradually easing as we accelerate the prevention and vaccination.
[Biden/US President: As a result of the last five weeks of hard work, the United States has become the most vaccinated country in the world.]
But now, mutant viruses are a problem.
It is predicted that the corona crisis in the US, which is showing signs of calm, will worsen again in March due to various mutant viruses.
Most worrisome is the mutant virus found in New York, and the New York mutant virus, first discovered in November, has surged by nearly 13% over the past two weeks.
The New York mutant virus appears to be more resistant to vaccines than other existing mutant viruses, raising concerns that it may defeat the currently developed vaccine.
New mutant viruses are found in California as well as the New York virus, while the existing UK virus also doubles every ten days.
[Michael Osterholm/Director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota: Variations from the UK are rapidly spreading across the United States.
In the next three to five weeks, the number of infected people in the United States will increase rapidly.]
U.S. health officials are accelerating'gene sequencing', the work of deciphering viral gene sequences to combat mutated viruses.