Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is holding a press conference to address the concerns of COVID-19 in Annapolis, MD, on Nov. 17.
Bill O’Leary | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Maryland has reported a case of the new highly transmissible variant of Covid-19 first found in South Africa, marking the third case detected in the U.S., Gov. Larry Hogan announced Saturday.
The case involves a resident adult living in the Baltimore region with no history of international travel, as confirmed by health officials from Maryland and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We strongly encourage Marylanders to be very careful to limit the additional risk of transmission associated with this variant,” Hogan said. “Please continue to practice standard public safety and health measures, including the use of masks, regular hand washing and physical distancing.”
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 US have originated in Britain and Brazil.
Variants do not appear to cause major illness or increase the risk of death, but are believed to be highly contagious. Health officials are especially concerned about variant B.1.351 because preliminary research suggests that vaccines may be less effective in combating it.
President Joe Biden signed a travel ban last week on most non-US citizens entering the country recently in South Africa and reinstated travel restrictions on entry of non-US citizens from the Kingdom United and Brazil.
The virus has infected more than 25.9 million people and killed at least 436,000 people in the U.S. since the pandemic began, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.