The Indian 'Delta' coronavirus variant is continuing to spread across the country and turning states into infection hotspots.
Missouri has been seeing an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases, especially in the southwestern and northern counties.
The mutant strain already makes up more than half of all new infections in the state, health officials say.
Couple that with the resistance of many people to get vaccinated, and it's clear to see why Missouri has had a 25 percent increase in the seven-day rolling average of cases from 504 to 632 over the last two weeks, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of Johns Hopkins data.
Meanwhile, in Colorado, health officials say the prevalence of the Delta variant is continuing to escalate, making up 40 percent of daily new cases, and will soon become the dominant strain.
The Indian 'Delta' variant makes up more than 20% of all new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and is turning some states into new hotspots
Health officials say Missouri and Colorado are becoming two new hotspots of infection due to the variant's spread
Known as B.1.617.2, the Delta variant has been labeled as a 'double mutant' by India's Health Ministry because it carries two mutations: L452R and E484Q.
L452R is the same mutation seen with the California homegrown variant and E484Q is similar to the mutation seen in the Brazilian and South African variants.
Both of the mutations occur on key parts of the virus that allows it to enter and infect human cells.
Its transmissibility has been clear as it wreaks havoc in the UK.
On Tuesday, the UK recorded 11,625 new cases of COVID-19, which is the most reported since mid-February.
This is a 450 percent increase from 2,000 case recorded in late April, when the Delta variant first took hold.
Additionally, deaths have nearly tripled in the last week, with 27 COVID-related fatalities recorded on Tuesday compared to 10 last Thursday.
On Tuesday, Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said during a White House COVID-19 Response Team press briefing that the variant is also rapidly in the U.S., currently accounts for 20.6 percent of infections.
This means the prevalence of the variant has doubled in just two weeks, when the variant made up 10 percent of cases, and increased seven-fold from one month ago, when it made up just 2.7 percent of cases.
In Missouri, the spread of the variant had led to the state having the highest rate of new COVID-19 infections.
