The South African variant of the coronavirus has been discovered in a person hospitalized in New York City, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.
At a press conference in Albany, Cuomo stressed that the affected person is not a New Yorker and there is no evidence that the species is circulating in the Empire State.
“The patient was transferred directly from Connecticut to a hospital in New York City,” said Cuomo. ‘It was not a resident of New York. it was a person in Connecticut who was taken to a hospital in New York City for surgery.
“We have no evidence of any distribution in New York State to date.”
Cuomo has not provided any details about the patient or their condition and has not specified which hospital they are in.
As the governor noted, experts are watching the mutation for fear it could be more deadly and more resistant to vaccines.
“The South African variety is the one they watch the most,” he said. “The South African variety, they worry about how deadly it is and how it compares to the vaccine.”
Last month, a highly contagious strain of the virus from the UK was detected in New York, and a study released Sunday identified seven new mutations in the US, at least one of which is circulating in the Northeast.