The number of cases of the more contagious UK strain of Covid-19 found on Long Island has increased to four, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.
Four days after the governor announced the first such variant of the coronavirus was found in Nassau County and a week after the first such case in the state was confirmed in Saratoga, Cuomo said a cluster of cases on the Island includes a second case in Nassau, two cases in Suffolk County, and one in Queens.
“We’re dealing with high numbers of COVID cases across the state as we move through the dark days of winter, and although I understand COVID fatigue has set in, we need New Yorkers to remember that we aren’t out of the woods yet,” Cuomo said.
The state has now confirmed 15 cases of the variant. The rest are part of a cluster upstate and one is in Manhattan, unconnected to the two clusters. LI’s first case was found to be in Massapequa.
The development comes after the number of overall coronavirus cases on Long Island recently doubled from 100,000 to more than 200,000 in about two months.
The new variant has been found to spread more rapidly, but is not believed to be any more deadly. But Cuomo has said it could be a “game changer” if the new strain increases hospitalizations and forces regions to close down.
The variant, which has been analysed as having a greater transmission rate, has been cited by the British government as the main reason for a flare-up in COVID-19 cases in the UK over the past month.
-With Reuters
Related Story: Long Island Covid-19 Cases Double to 200,000 in 2 Months
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