The first case in Puerto Rico of a variant of COVID-19 has been confirmed and a 50-year-old woman is hospitalized.
This was reported on Tuesday by Governor Pedro Pierluisi along with Secretary of Health Carlos Mellado.
As indicated, the woman arrived on the island in mid-January from a European flight that landed in the United States. Although she is hospitalized in an institution in the metropolitan area, she did not suffer any complications and responded to treatment.
Mellado specified that an analysis of the patient’s environment was made and it was established that there was no “significant” increase in cases among them. However, two people close to the patient tested positive for COVID-19 and are awaiting specific tests to determine if it is the same strain.
The health secretary said the variant was marked as B117, first identified in the UK.
On the other hand, Pierluisi justified the difference between the numbers provided by the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) and the Department of Health (DS) regarding the vaccination process on the island. The governor indicated that one of the reasons for the difference in numbers is that DS does not immediately report vaccines processed by other entities, such as Veterans Hospital and pharmacies.
He indicated that so far 544,200 doses of coronavirus vaccine have been received on the island, of which 399,711 have been administered. Likewise, between 90,000 and 94,000 doses of available vaccines arrive in Puerto Rico each week.