The South African coronavirus variant has now been identified in New York City, health officials said on Tuesday – by giving an update on the various mutations that are now spreading across the Big Apple.
“With the number of New Yorkers being vaccinated increasing every day, there are real reasons for hope for better months ahead. But on the periphery of this growing light, there is also a shadow of these new variants of COVID-19 in the city, ”said Dr. Dave Chokshi, commissioner for the city’s Health Department, at a news conference.
Two cases of the South African variant, called B.1.351, were found in Big Apple residents, according to the health commissioner.
Since last week, the number of confirmed cases in the city of the highly contagious variant of the United Kingdom. known as B.1.1.7, has increased from 59 to 116, said Chokshi.
“The city will continue testing thousands of samples to find out more, and disease detectives from the Department of Health are investigating the public health implications of these variants,” said Chokshi.
Meanwhile, the local strain that emerged in New York City, known as B.1.526, is currently being classified as “a variant of interest,” said Dr. Jay Varma, senior adviser to Mayor Bill de Blasio for public health, during the briefing. .
“We hope to have preliminary responses [about the New York City variant] next week, ”said Varma.
Varma added: “And if we find something alarming, we will tell you. If we think the variant is probably not going to be a big deal, we’ll say so too. And if we’re still not sure, we’ll also tell you. “
“We will continue to do what we have been doing, which is to get the best data possible and use it to fight this epidemic together,” he said.
The New York City variant was first found in Washington Heights, Manhattan – but officials say it is unclear where it originated from.
Varma considered the strain of the United Kingdom, the variant of South Africa and the variant of Brazil, known as P.1, “worrying variants”.
“What makes you a variant of concern? It can change so much that it goes beyond our usual tests. Our usual tests fail to diagnose it, or it has changed so much that it escapes our antibodies. Or it has changed so much that it leads to more serious illness and death, ”said Varma.
Chokshi noted that health officials “are still learning about the effectiveness of vaccines in these variants, but the research so far is consistent that the FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines [Food and Drug Administration] will help decrease the risk of serious infections and death. “