Maryland Governor Larry Hogan gives a press conference to address the concerns of COVID-19 in Annapolis, MD, on November 17.
Bill O’Leary | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Maryland reported a case of the new highly transmissible Covid-19 variant found for the first time in South Africa, marking the third case to be detected in the United States, Governor Larry Hogan announced on Saturday.
The case involves an adult living in the Baltimore area with no international travel history, confirmed Maryland health officials and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We encourage sailors to exercise extra caution to limit the additional risk of transmission associated with this variant,” said Hogan. “Continue to practice standard public health and safety measures, including wearing a mask, regular hand washing and physical distance.”
The first two American cases of the South African variant, known as B.1.351, were identified in South Carolina on 28 January. Other variants found in the United States originate from Great Britain and Brazil.
The variants do not appear to cause more significant illness or increase the risk of death, but are considered highly contagious. Health officials are particularly concerned about variant B.1.351 because preliminary research suggests that vaccines may be less effective in fighting it.
President Joe Biden signed a travel ban last week for most non-US citizens who entered the country who were recently in South Africa and reinstated travel restrictions for non-US citizens from the UK and Brazil.
The virus has infected more than 25.9 million people and killed at least 436,000 people in the United States since the pandemic began, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.