February 6, 2021, 2:46 PM HST
A second case of COVID-19 with variant B.1.1.7 has been confirmed in Hawai’i.
The state laboratory division of the Hawaiʻi Department of Health reports that both cases involve people in O’ahu. It also has no travel history.
It is not known that people have had contact with each other.
The DOH Outbreak Control Division continues the active investigation of both cases and ensures that the two individuals are isolated and that contacts are quarantined.
The two recent confirmations were among four samples previously identified in Hawai’i as molecular tracks consistent with variant B.1.1.7. The other specimens are still being analyzed.
Variant B.1.1.7, originally detected in the United Kingdom, is highly transmissible and leads to faster spread than other common strains of COVID-19.
The State Division of Laboratories is conducting genome sequencing in 300 copies per month.