Additional UK variant found – Deadline

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The Los Angeles Department of Public Health has confirmed two additional cases of the UK variant of COVID-19, totaling 14 cases in total in LA County.

The new variant, classified as B.1.1.7, is known to be more contagious than the Wuhan strain of COVID-19. Public health director Barbara Ferrer is calling for even more caution over the potential increase in cases due to the newly introduced variant of coronavirus. “With the UK variant circulating in the county, we will likely see more variant cases identified in the county. We must remain vigilant in our security measures even as we see an overall decrease in cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Let’s keep our guard because we know that lowering the guard will lead to more cases and, tragically, even more deaths, ”Ferrer said.

The Department of Public Health has also confirmed 136 deaths and 2,393 new cases of coronavirus in LA County. To date, the department has counted 1,179,063 cases in all areas of Los Angeles County with 19,793 deaths.

There are currently 2,498 hospitalizations in LA County, a decrease of 30% from the 3,426 hospitalized the previous week. Of all current hospitalizations, 30% are in intensive care.

Today’s positivity rate marked 3.8%, down 1.5% from the 5.3% rate last week.

Residents under the age of 50 make up 64% of the new coronavirus cases reported today, with residents between the ages of 18 and 49 driving most of those cases. Residents 65 and over account for 71% of reported deaths, even though they only represent 15% of new cases.



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