February 6, 2021, 2:46 PM HST
A second case of COVID-19 with the B.1.1.7 variant has been confirmed in Hawai’i.
The Hawai’i Department of Health State Laboratories Division reports that individuals on O’ahu are involved in both cases. Neither has a travel history.
The persons are not known to have had contact with each other.
The DOH Disease Outbreak Control Division continues to actively investigate both cases and ensures that both individuals are isolated and that the contacts are quarantined.
The two recent confirmations belonged to four samples previously identified in Hawai’i as having a molecular designation consistent with the B.1.1.7 variant. The other specimens are still being analyzed.
Originally detected in the UK, the B.1.1.7 variant is highly transmissible and spreads faster than other common COVID-19 strains.
The State Laboratories Division performs genome sequencing on 300 samples per month.