Colorado’s first case of the Covid variant to emerge recently in the UK (Representational)
Washington:
The US state of Colorado has recorded what is purportedly the first US case of the particularly infectious variant of the coronavirus that emerged recently in Britain, the governor said Tuesday.
“Today we discovered Colorado’s first case of COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7, the same variant discovered in the UK,” State Governor Jared Polis tweeted.
He attached an official statement from his office and state health officials saying the individual is a “male in his 20s who is currently isolated in Elbert County and has no travel history.”
The individual had no close contacts, according to the statement, but the situation will continue to be monitored “very closely” and authorities are working to identify other potential cases through contact tracing.
Today we discovered Colorado’s first case of COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7, the same variant discovered in the UK.
The health and safety of Coloradans is our top priority and we will monitor this case, as well as all COVID-19 indicators, very closely. pic.twitter.com/fjyq7QhzBi
– Governor Jared Polis (@GovofCO) December 29, 2020
The Washington Post reported that the Colorado case is the first known infection of the virus variant to be recorded in the United States. The first two variant cases on the North American continent were discovered in Canada over the weekend.
The new strain of Covid-19 has raised fears, which experts say is potentially more transmissible.
More than 3,000 cases of the variant have already been reported in the UK and in dozens of countries in Europe and around the world, according to the EU health agency ECDC.
In South Africa, more than 300 cases of another variant have been recorded. Three cases of that strain variant have been confirmed in Europe, two in the UK and one in Finland, but all three have been linked to people returning from South Africa.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated channel.)
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