The first case of the highly contagious Brazilian variant of COVID-19 was confirmed in a resident of the state of New York.
The case of the strain, officially known as the P.1 variant, was identified by scientists at Mount Sinai hospital in New York City and verified by the Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center Laboratories.
The patient is a Brooklyn resident over 90 years old, with no recent travel history.
DOH is working with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to obtain more information about the patient and possible contacts.
“This is a race between the vaccine and the variants, and we continue to make tremendous progress in bringing vaccines into the arms of eligible New Yorkers,” said New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker. “In the meantime, we remind New Yorkers to do everything they can to protect themselves and their neighbors, while we continue to manage this pandemic.”
Variant P.1 was first detected in the United States in late January, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are reporting 48 cases across the country.
The P.1 variant has been designated as a “worrying variant”, which means that there is evidence of an increase in transmissibility, more serious illnesses and the potential for reducing the effectiveness of treatments or vaccines.
However, although additional research is needed, researchers at the University of Oxford recently released unrevised peer data that indicate that the P.1 variant may be less resistant to current vaccines than originally thought.
The Wadsworth Center is currently sequencing COVID-19 virus samples at a rate of approximately 90 per day and has sequenced more than 8,200 virus samples across the state. Most specimens were selected at random across the state to ensure geographic representation.
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