In the United States, for the first time, a new coronavirus type identified in South Africa has been detected, with two cases diagnosed in South Carolina, state health officials said Thursday.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Protection said the two incidents do not seem to be related, nor do the individuals have a history of recent travel.

“That’s scary,” said Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious diseases physician at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, because it means there may be more undetected cases within the state. “It’s more widespread, probably.”

Dr. Brannon Traxler, DHEC Interim Public Health Officer, said in a statement that the introduction of this strain now growing in other countries indicates that’ the fight against this deadly virus is far from over.’ Although more vaccines against COVID-19 are on the way, stocks are still minimal. By realising that we are all on the front lines now, each of us must recommit to the war. Today, we are all in this.

Adults are the two persons afflicted with this variant; one is from the Low Country of South Carolina and the other from the area of Pee Dee, the state said, while withholding other details to protect their privacy.

With coronavirus variations spreading across the world, viruses are continuously mutating, but scientists are mainly concerned with the appearance of three of them. In the United Kingdom and Brazil, other versions first mentioned were previously confirmed in the U.S. These three variants could spread more quickly, researchers claim, and expected it was only a matter of time before they appeared here.

Scientists have reported tentative but alarming signs last week that some of the new mutations may modestly curb the potency of two existing vaccinations, although they emphasised that the shots already protect against the disease. And there are signs that some of the recent mutations are likely to undermine virus experiments and reduce the potency of such therapies.

In the United States, the coronavirus has now sickened millions and killed more than 400,000 persons.

While several European nations do thorough genetic profiling to identify these mutations, relatively little of this detective work has been undertaken by the U.S. But scientists have been swift to try to do something, and when they do, they spot these seemingly more infectious forms.

At least 315 cases of the U.K.-discovered strain have been identified in the United States by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These findings came from at least 28 nations, and health authorities think that by March it might become the dominant strain in the U.S. In at least 70 countries, the variant has been registered.

Earlier this week, health authorities in Minnesota confirmed the first U.S. outbreak of the variant found in Brazil. It was a human who travelled to the South American nation recently. In more than half a dozen nations, the variant of the virus has popped up.

In October, the version that was first observed in South Africa was described. It has been detected in at least 30 other countries since then.

Some studies show that the South African and Brazilian strains could be less susceptible to COVID-19 survivors’ antibody drugs or antibody-rich tissue, all of which help individuals fight the virus.

Health officials also fear that people might get COVID-19 a second time if the virus improves enough.

On Monday, President Joe Biden reestablished COVID-19 travel limits on most non-U.S. Brazil, U.K. tourists, South Africa as well. And at this time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that Americans not fly.