Two Montgomery County residents test positive with South African COVID-19 variant

Two more cases of the South African coronavirus variant have been identified in Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan said Tuesday.

The two individuals, who are Montgomery County residents, recently traveled abroad and tested positive for the B.1.351 variant, which is believed to be more contagious than the original COVID-19 strain.

Mr. Hogan said contact tracing is underway, and close contacts are isolating.

Maryland, the second state to confirm the presence of the variant after South Carolina, now has recorded three cases of the strain. The first case of the B.1.351 variant in Maryland was detected last week in an adult living in the Baltimore metro area. That individual had not traveled internationally, “making community transmission likely,” Mr. Hogan said in a statement Saturday.

While the strain might be more transmissible, health officials say there is no evidence that it causes more severe disease. They also say vaccines are likely to still protect against the variant and that currently available diagnostic tests can detect the strain.

The variant was first detected in the U.S. in two individuals in South Carolina on Jan. 28. It was first identified in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa in samples dating back to the beginning of October, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Meanwhile, the U.K. variant, B.1.1.7, has been more frequently identified in the states. Thirty-two states have detected 467 cases of the variant as of Sunday, the latest health data shows.