The first case in Puerto Rico of a variant of COVID-19 has been confirmed, and it is a woman in her 50s who is being hospitalized.
Governor Pedro Pierluisi reported this on Tuesday together with the Minister of Health, Carlos Mellado.
As indicated, the woman arrived on the island in mid-January after a flight from Europe that made a stopover in the United States. Although admitted to an institution in the metropolitan area, she has had no complications and has responded to treatment.
Mellado specified that an analysis of the patient’s environment had been made and it was found that there was no “significant” increase in the number of cases. However, two people close to the patient tested positive for COVID-19 and it is waiting for the result of specific tests to determine if it is the same strain.
The health secretary said the variant was marked B117, first identified in the UK.
On the other hand, Pierluisi justified the disparity between the figures that the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) and the Department of Health (DS) provide about the vaccination process on the island. The governor said one of the reasons for the difference in numbers is that the DS does not immediately report vaccines processed by other entities such as the Veterans Hospital and pharmacies.
He indicated that to date 544,200 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been received on the island, of which 399,711 have been administered. Likewise, between 90,000 and 94,000 doses of available vaccines arrive in Puerto Rico every week.