The announcement was made by Governor Cuomo as at least three other states reported cases of viral strain that were thought to be more contagious than other strains.
Speaking at the online press conference, Cuomo said the 60-year-old was from Saratoga County and had no known travel history. The patient is recovering, used to work at a jewelry store where three other people tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. New York state officials are investigating whether those cases were infected with a viral strain.
Mr. Cuomo also said that the state of New York has done about 5,000 tests to find this new strain and said that if other states can do as much testing as New York state is doing,
they were able to detect a variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. To date, state officials have not detected any cases of this new virus infection in the New York City area.
Before that, on December 29, Colorado became the first state in the US to confirm a case of positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus strain in a young male aged 20 years. Southern California reported a 30-year-old man infected with the new virus and Florida public health officials also discovered evidence of the virus in a 20-year-old male. Neither of these three cases had a travel history to countries with confirmed viral infections.
The strain variant, known under the symbol B.1.1.7, was first reported in the UK, but its origin is unknown. Although B.1.1.7 is thought to be more contagious than other strains, health officials say this new strain of the virus does not appear to be any more dangerous to the infected person. Pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Moderna both believe that their current Covid-19 vaccine will be effective against this strain.