PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Health Services says the first case of South Africa’s COVID-19 variant was detected in Arizona.
ADHS made the announcement on Friday, along with the Maricopa County Department of Health and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).
The group says that the variant strain was detected in two test samples from the state.
According to the CDC, this variant was first detected in the United States in January and is spreading at a faster rate. According to the CDC, all indications show that vaccines authorized by COVID appear to be effective against the South African variant.
ADHS says it is common for viruses to mutate as they continue to spread, and new variants are expected over time.
“Other times, new variants appear and last,” said ADHS in a statement. “It is not known how widely the variant may have spread in Arizona. The discovery of this variant in the state is yet another reminder that Arizonans should be vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as they can ”.