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Sunday ended the deadliest week for the novel coronavirus in South Carolina, according to state estimates.
Twenty-three new deaths from COVID-19 were confirmed on Sunday, with more than 460 deaths confirmed in the past seven days alone – making last week the deadliest for the new virus in the state so far, according to data from the state health department.
Overall, South Carolina has seen more than 6,300 deaths since the start of the pandemic, the data shows.
In addition, the state saw more than 2,600 new cases of the new virus confirmed on Sunday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to more than 396,000.
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The trends seen in South Carolina appear to echo those across the country, with recent estimates from Johns Hopkins University showing that January was the deadliest month for the United States since the pandemic began there. is almost a year old.
The news comes after South Carolina last week confirmed the country’s first cases of a worrying variant of the coronavirus first identified in South Africa.
Two cases of the variant, known as B.1.351, have been identified in two residents with no recent travel history, suggesting they were acquired locally.
Health officials in a press release said they were contacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after genome sequencing of a sample from South Carolina turned out to be the variant.
“The arrival of the SARS-CoV-2 variant in our state is an important reminder to all South Carolinians that the fight against this deadly virus is far from over,” the Department of Public Health and Human Rights said. South Carolina Environmental Control (DHEC). Director, Dr Brannon Traxler, at the time.
Over the weekend, Maryland became the second state in the country to confirm its first case of the variant.
The case was confirmed in a Baltimore resident with no history of overseas travel, which suggests the variant is likely circulating in the community, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s office said.
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While experts have said the South African variant is more transmissible than COVID-19, they don’t think it’s more virulent, which means it’s not more likely to cause more serious illness .
Experts also pointed out that existing coronavirus vaccines would likely remain effective against the variant, with Moderna – its COVID-19 vaccine was the second to receive emergency approval in the United States – expressing confidence in the ability to its vaccine to remain effective against emerging strains of the virus. , including the South African variant and a separate variant first identified in the UK, following the results of a study still under peer review.
Fox News’ Kayla Rivas and Alexandria Hein contributed to this report.
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