A case of a more contagious coronavirus variant found for the first time in Brazil has been confirmed in Minnesota, the state health department said in a statement on Monday. It is the first confirmed case of the variant in the United States.
The case was identified in a Minnesota resident who recently traveled to Brazil, the department said, which may suggest that the variant is not yet circulating widely.
The variant, known as B.1.1.28.1 or P.1, shares many mutations with one first identified in South Africa. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines still protect from the variant in circulation in South Africa, the companies said, but are a little less effective. They are expected to perform similarly to the variant identified in Brazil.
The P.1 variant is also considered to be more contagious, but it is unclear whether it causes more serious illnesses. The Minnesota Department of Health identified it through its variant surveillance program, which collects 50 random samples from state laboratories each week.
The person with the confirmed case is a resident of Minneapolis-St. Paul’s metropolitan area, the department said. The patient fell ill during the first week of January and the sample was collected on January 9.
Health department investigators spoke to the person after the test was positive for Covid-19, and the person traveled to Brazil before he became ill. The person was instructed to isolate and quarantine family members. Health officials are conducting additional interviews with the person to learn more about the illness, travel and close contacts.
President Biden’s press secretary said on Monday that he will extend the Trump administration’s ban on travel to the United States from Brazil, along with similar restrictions in Europe and the United Kingdom, where other variants have been identified. It also added South Africa to the list.