Colorado officials confirmed the first known case in the United States of the new coronavirus mutation that has spread rapidly across the United Kingdom.
“The individual is recovering in isolation and will remain there until cleared by public health officials,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Tuesday, adding that the patient “has no close contacts identified so far but public health officials are working to identify other potential cases and contacts through thorough contact tracing interviews.”
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State public health officials said the patient is a male in his 20s who has not traveled recently to a place where he may have been exposed to the mutated virus, which is thought to be more contagious. The renewed outbreak in the U.K. prompted roughly 40 countries to block entry to travelers from Britain.
“There is a lot we don’t know about this new COVID-19 variant, but scientists in the United Kingdom are warning the world that it is significantly more contagious,” Polis said.
The mutated virus has already been detected in 17 countries outside the U.K., including Canada, Australia, and South Korea. In almost all instances, the new cases could be traced to people who had recently traveled from the U.K.
