San Francisco, Dec 31 A 30-year-old man from San Diego County was confirmed as the first Covid-19 variant case in California, the most populous state in the US.
On Wednesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom in a joint news conference with Anthony Fauci on Facebook Live announced that the variant, known as B.1.1.7, was detected in Southern California, but did not provide any more specifics on exactly where or how it was discovered, reports Xinhua news agency.
Hours later, the San Diego County's Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said during another online news conference that the infected person was the 30-year-old man with no travel history.
The man became symptomatic on Sunday and was tested on Tuesday, Eric McDonald, the county's medical director for epidemiology said, adding the new strain was spotted in a sample that came from the University of California San Diego and was confirmed on Wednesday morning.
Fauci, Americas top infectious diseases expert, noted during the conversation with Newsom that he was not surprised about the news of the variant showing up in the Golden State, saying: "I don't think that Californ should feel that this is something odd, This is something that's expected."
On Tuesday, the first reported US case of the variant strain, first found in Britain, was discovered in state of Colorado.
Fletcher said the local authority believed the 30-year-old man was not an isolated case in San Diego County, and there were probably other cases of the same strain in the county.
( With inputs from IANS )
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