Eastern Virginia sees its first UK COVID-19 strain, second case of South African strain

It seems the UK strand of the coronavirus is beginning to spread in Virginia.

On Friday, the Virginia Department of Health reported the sixth such case of the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 and the second to be outside of Northern Virginia.

This patient is an adult resident of Eastern Virginia with no history of travel outside of Virginia.

The second case of the new COVID-19 strain from South Africa has also made its way to Eastern Virginia. The only two cases of the South African strain in Virginia so far are in the eastern region.

The map below shows precisely how VDH defines the Eastern region:

[Where are Virginia’s coronavirus cases? The health department’s interactive map]

VDH says that this strain is associated with increased person-to-person transmission of COVID-19.

With its first case last month, Virginia became the 23rd state to report this new strain.

As of Friday, 37 states are reporting a total of 981 cases of this UK strain, according to the CDC. Meanwhile, 5 states are reporting a total of 13 cases of the South African strain.

In Virginia, there are six total cases of the COVID-19 UK strain and two cases of the COVID-19 South African strain as of Friday.