More infectious COVID-19 variant identified in Chicago

CHICAGO (AP) - The first case of the more infectious Brazil variant of COVID-19 in Illinois has been detected in a Chicago resident, public health officials say.

Northwestern University researchers found the so-called P.1 variant in a test sample from a Chicago resident who came down with the disease, city and state health officials announced Friday. The infected person told contact tracers they hadn't recently traveled outside Illinois.

'œWe identified it through our research program following mutations in the virus over time in the Chicago area,'ť said Dr. Egon Ozer, assistant professor of medicine in infectious diseases at Northwestern and a Northwestern Medicine physician.

The P.1 strain was first found in Brazilian travelers who arrived in Tokyo in early January. It appeared in Minnesota later that month and has since been identified in several other states.

The Chicago Department of Public Health "is working to identify close contacts of the individual to reinforce the importance of adherence with quarantine and isolation measures,'ť health officials said in a statement.

Evidence suggests that this variant can spread more easily than most currently circulating strains of COVID-19, health officials said.

COVID-19 variants from Great Britain and South Africa have previously been identified in Illinois.