•VARIANT: The first case of the new variant of the novel coronavirus, known as B117, in Mexico was detected Sunday in the northern state of Tamaulipas, health officials confirmed. Mexico is the 16th country to detect this strain which was first discovered in the United Kingdom in September.
•SAMPLE: “The sequencing result shows that it belongs to a new variant…We can confirm that the virus that made this person sick belongs to the new variant identified in the United Kingdom”, said José Luis Alomía, director of epidemiology at the Mexican government’s health ministry.
•PATIENT: The patient, a 56 year old man, arrived in Mexico City from Amsterdam on December 28th and one day later boarded a flight for Matamoros, a city in Tamaulipas just south of Brownsville, Texas. Officials say they have conducted contact tracing on the other passengers.
•NUMBERS: As of late Sunday, Mexico has officially reported 1 million 534,039 coronavirus cases and 133,706 coronavirus deaths. Mexico is the fourth country in the world with the most coronavirus deaths in absolute terms.
