Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is holding a press conference on November 17 to address concerns about COVID-19 in Annapolis, MD.
Bill O’Leary | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Maryland has reported a case of the new, highly transmissible Covid-19 variant first found in South Africa, which is the third case detected in the US, Government Secretary Larry Hogan announced on Saturday.
The case involves an adult resident who lives in the Baltimore region and has no history of international travel, Maryland health officials and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have confirmed.
“We strongly encourage Marylanders to be extra careful about limiting the additional risk of transmission associated with this variant,” Hogan said. “Continue to practice standard public health and safety measures, including wearing a mask, regular hand washing and physical distance.”
The first two U.S. cases of the South African variant, known as B.1.351, were identified on January 28 in South Carolina. Other variants found in the US come from Britain and Brazil.
The variants no longer appear to cause significant disease or an increased risk of death, but are likely to become infected. Health officials are particularly concerned about the B.1.351 variant because preliminary research suggests that vaccines may be less effective at combating it.
President Joe Biden last week signed a travel ban for most non-US citizens entering the country that was recently in South Africa and reinstated the travel restrictions on the entry of non-US citizens from the UK 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, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.