New York, Feb 21 (EFE) .- The state of New York confirmed this Sunday its first case of the South African variant of the coronavirus, which was detected for the first time in the United States at the end of January in two people residing in South Carolina and it has already emerged in other parts of the country.
In his daily statement on the evolution of the pandemic in New York, which continues to reduce infections and hospitalizations, Governor Andrew Cuomo detailed that the variant has been identified in a Nassau County resident, but did not offer information on whether the individual had traveled.
This case joins, in addition to the initial ones in South Carolina, two others detected in the state of Maryland in early February and a last in the neighboring state of Connecticut a week ago, in a resident who had been hospitalized in the city from New York.
Cuomo noted that the indicators invite to continue “opening” the economy but warned that “with the discovery of a case of the South African variant in the state, it is more important than ever that New Yorkers remain vigilant, wear masks, wash their hands and are socially estranged. “
The South African variant is highly communicable, experts say, and is the second known variant to have spread widely in the world, after the one discovered in the UK, something that worries authorities now that vaccinations are in progress.
This Sunday, the main US epidemiologist, Anthony Fauci, said on Fox News that the government is doing “preliminary and early experiments” on the possibility that the strain becomes “predominant” and did not rule out “a version of the vaccine that is specifically targeted at the South African (variant) “.
When the country most impacted by the covid-19 pandemic approaches 500,000 deaths, Fauci expressed hope that by this month of July the United States will have the 600 million doses promised by President Joe Biden to immunize the entire population. population.
Although new cases are falling in the vast majority of the country, the epidemiologist clarified that the contagion figures are still very high and recommended not to lower our guard. EFE
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