A Brooklyn resident with no travel history is the first person in New York City to have a confirmed case of the Brazilian variant of COVID-19, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office said Saturday.
The state’s first case of COVID-19 P.1 was identified by scientists at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and verified by the Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center Laboratories, the New York Post reported.
The state Department of Health is working to learn more about the patient, who is in their 90s. It's also looking into who the person has been in contact with, the office said.
The Brazilian variant is considered more contagious than the first version of the coronavirus. There is a possibility current vaccines will not be as effective against it as earlier virus variants.
The variant was first found in the U.S. in January in Minnesota, the federal Centers for Disease Control reported.
There are currently 48 cases in 15 states, including Massachusetts and New Jersey, the CDC website said.
Cuomo’s office was optimistic about the fight against new variant.
“While additional research is warranted, researchers at the University of Oxford recently released non-peer reviewed data that indicates the P.1 variant may be less resistant to the current vaccines than originally thought,” the governor’s office said.
Nearly 3.9 million vaccine doses have been administered in the five boroughs, the city said.
"This is a race between the vaccine and the variants, and we continue to make tremendous progress of getting shots in the arms of eligible New Yorkers,” state Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said.
Zucker urged residents to continue to follow existing safety precautions such as face masks and social distancing until the pandemic is under control.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
