The South African variant of the coronavirus was detected in a person hospitalized in New York City, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday.
Speaking during a news conference in Albany, Cuomo emphasized that the affected individual is not a New Yorker and that there is no indication that the strain is circulating in the Empire State.
“The patient was transferred from Connecticut directly to a New York City hospital,” said Cuomo. “I was not a New York resident. was a person in Connecticut who was transferred to a New York City hospital for a procedure.
“We have no evidence of any spread in the state of New York to date.
Cuomo did not provide details about the patient or his condition and did not specify which hospital he was in.
As the governor noted, experts are monitoring the mutation amid fears it may be more deadly and more resistant to vaccines.
“The South African variant is the variant that they are watching most closely,” he said. “The South African variant, they care about how lethal it is and how it relates to the vaccine.”
Last month, a highly contagious strain of the UK virus was detected in New York, and a study released on Sunday identified seven new mutations in the United States, at least one of which is circulating in the northeast.