BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced Tuesday that the first case of the P.1 COVID-19 variant, originally discovered in Brazil, has been detected in Massachusetts.
The person is a woman in her 30s that lives in Barnstable County. She tested positive for COVID-19 in late February. The state was notified of her test results from genetic sequencing through the CDC’s national surveillance system.
It is unclear what the state of her illness is or whether she had recently traveled.
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According to DPH, there have been 213 cases of the U.K. variant and six cases of the South Africa variant in Massachusetts.
State health officials recommend everyone continue to practice social distancing and wear a mask to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 variants.
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