MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — The Florida Department of Health announced Thursday night that the first case of the newly discovered COVID-19 variant has been found in Florida.

The infected individual was identified in Martin County, just south of Port St. Lucie, as a male in his 20s with no history of travel. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Florida Dept of Health on Thursday announced the state's first case of the newly discovered COVID-19 variant

  • The individual was identified as a man in his 20's in Martin County, with no history of travel

  • The newly discovered variant was first discovered in the United Kingdom

It's still unclear the man's condition or how the strain was detected. The Florida DOH is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate the incident. 

The newly discovered variant of the COVID-19 virus has emerged with a large number of mutations and seems to spread more easily and quickly than other variants, the CDC said on its website. 

"This variant was first detected in September 2020 and is now highly prevalent in London and southeast England," information on the CDC's website said. "It has since been detected in numerous countries around the world, including the United States and Canada."

Experts in Florida said they do not expect the variant of the virus to have a significant impact, if any, on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine.

"These are RNA viruses and they are continually mutating all the time," said Infectious Disease Expert Dr. Anthony Fauci. "Most of the time, the mutations don't have a functional significance."

Spectrum News Reporter Justin Soto contributed to this report.