Contagious virus variant reported in northeast Missouri

(AP) — State health officials said Saturday that the first case in the state of a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus has been recorded in northeast Missouri.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said in a statement that the variant of the virus that was first identified last fall in the United Kingdom had been confirmed in a person who lives in Marion County, which is just northwest of St. Louis near the Mississippi River.

This variant of the virus, which is believed to spread faster than the original coronavirus, has already been found in at least 33 states.