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The two recently traveled overseas, according to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and local health officials on Tuesday.
Two residents of Montgomery County, Maryland are confirmed to have a new strain of the coronavirus which is believed to be more infectious and which was first identified in South Africa.
The two recently traveled overseas, according to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and local health officials, and the cases are not believed to be linked to community transmission.
The strain of coronavirus B. 1.351 is one of the few mutated strains that have appeared in the world.
These are now the second and third cases of the variant discovered in Maryland.
Public health officials and the CDC have confirmed two more cases of variant B. 1,351 (South African) in Maryland. The two, who have recently traveled abroad, reside in Montgomery County. Contact tracing is underway and close contacts are becoming isolated.
– Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) February 2, 2021
Last weekend, the state announced its first known case involving a Baltimore resident. This person had not recently traveled abroad.
Montgomery County health officials first indicated the two possible cases of the South African strain on Monday, but said they were awaiting final confirmation from the state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Besides being more transmissible, the strain first identified in South Africa has not been shown to cause more serious illness or an increased risk of death, Hogan said on Twitter. “Early evidence suggests that vaccines are still likely to protect against the variant,” he said.
The South African variant was first detected in the United States last month in South Carolina. Maryland is only the second state in the United States to identify cases involving this particular variant.
Before the positive results were confirmed, Montgomery County health official Dr Travis Gayles told Montgomery County Council members that the Maryland Department of Health was increasing its capacity to perform sequencing of viral strains to identify the different strains of coronavirus.
Also last month, Maryland announced its first known cases of the new strain of coronavirus first identified in the UK in two residents of Anne Arundel County – one had recently traveled overseas and the the other was the traveller’s wife.
More coronavirus news
Looking for more information? DC, Maryland and Virginia each publish more data every day. Visit their official websites here: Virginia | Maryland | DC
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