US detects first case of virus variant

The new variant of the novel coronavirus was detected for the first time on Tuesday in the United States and Latin America as US President-elect Joe Biden vowed to significantly ramp up the country's vaccination drive.

The new strain, which first emerged in the United Kingdom, pushed Britain to a new daily record of infections and led South Africa to impose a raft of new measures, amid fears around the world that holiday revelers are aggravating the spike in infections.

The European Union's health agency warned the strain carried a high risk for more hospitalizations and deaths, not because infections are more severe but because it spreads more easily.

The Rocky Mountain state of Colorado recorded the first such case in the US, which has suffered the highest death toll of the year-old pandemic that has claimed more than 1.78 million lives globally. Nearly 338,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the US.

Governor Jared Polis said a man in his 20s near Denver was infected with the variant known as B.1.1.7 and is isolating. He has no travel history, health officials said.

For the moment, the variant is still rare in the US, but the lack of travel history in the first case means it is spreading, probably seeded by travelers from Britain in November or December, said scientist Trevor Bedford, who studies the spread of COVID-19 at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Biden, after a briefing from experts, warned the dire COVID situation may not ease up until "well into March".

"The next few weeks and months are going to be very tough－a very tough period for our nation, maybe the toughest during this entire pandemic," he said.

Hospitalizations are back at an all-time high in the US at more than 121,000 as of Monday.

Biden called mass vaccination the "greatest operational challenge we've ever faced as a nation", and promised the US would do better after he replaces President Donald Trump on Jan 20.

The Trump administration had predicted that 20 million people would be vaccinated in the country by the end of December.

Nearly 2.1 million people in the US have received the first shot of the vaccine, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an update days out from the end of 2020.

Biden renewed his promise to administer 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office.

With health workers desperately waiting, politicians have been among first to be vaccinated in a stated goal of setting an example, with US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris taking her first dose on Tuesday before cameras in Washington.

UK approves new jab

Britain on Wednesday became the first country to authorize a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and UK-based drugmaker AstraZeneca. The developers hope it will become the "vaccine for the world".

"The rollout will start on Jan 4 and will really accelerate into the first few weeks of next year," British Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News. Britain has bought 100 million doses of the vaccine.

The vaccine is expected to be relied on in many countries because of its low cost, availability and ease of use. It can be kept in refrigerators rather than the ultra-cold storage some other vaccines require. Astra-Zeneca has said it will sell it for $2.50 a dose and plans to make up to 3 billion doses by the end of 2021.

The move came as Britain recorded a 24-hour high of 53,135 new infections on Tuesday.

Critical care doctor Samantha Batt-Rawden said medical staff were at "breaking point".

"We are incredibly thin on the ground. NHS (National Health Service) staff have not been prioritized for the vaccine and are going off sick in droves with the new strain," she said on social media.

In South Africa, which has recorded more than 300 cases of the new variant and is the first African nation to hit 1 million cases, the government banned the sale of alcohol and made masks compulsory in public.

"We have let down our guard, and unfortunately we are now paying the price," said President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Chile on Tuesday became the first Latin American country to detect the new strain, in a woman who returned from Madrid after also visiting Britain and Dubai.

In response, health authorities announced a 10-day quarantine for all arrivals.

The new strain was also detected in Canada, Italy, the United Arab Emirates and India, which has the second-biggest caseload globally.

Worrisome trends have been increasing worldwide, with South Korea－hailed for its early success－logging its highest daily death toll yet.

Japan announced on Monday that it would bar entry of all nonresident foreign nationals as a precaution against the new strain.

Heng Weili in New York and agencies contributed to this story.