DENVER — A Colorado man in his 20s has been reported as the first in the U.S. with the more contagious variant of the coronavirus.
He’s from a mostly rural expanse outside the Denver area and recovering in isolation, according to state officials. His condition was not disclosed.
The new, mutated version was first identified in Britain and found in several other countries.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis says officials will “closely monitor this case, as well as all COVID-19 indicators, very closely.”
The variant is probably still rare in the U.S., but the lack of travel history in the first case means it is spreading, perhaps seeded by visitors from Britain in November or December, said scientist Trevor Bedford, who studies the spread of COVID-19 at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
MILAN — Italy added 575 coronavirus deaths and 16,202 new positives in the last 24 hours.
Italy’s death toll remains high two months into restrictive measures, which included a modified nationwide lockdown during most of the holiday period.
The scientific director of the Spallanzani hospital for infectious diseases in Rome, Giuseppe Ippolito, says the number of coronavirus deaths has been three times higher than seasonal flu deaths, and hospitalizations are at least double. Even with the vaccine campaign getting under way, Ippolito says citizens should expect to live under restrictions through the first quarter of 2022.