Florida becomes THIRD state to get Super-Covid as man in 20s with no travel history is diagnosed with mutant UK strain

FLORIDA has become the third state to get Super-Covid as a man in 20s with no travel history was diagnosed with the mutant strain from the United Kingdom.

The Florida Department of Health announced the news to Twitter on New Years Eve.

In a Thursday night tweet, the department wrote: "Florida has evidence of the first identified case of the UK COVID-19 variant in Martin County.

"The individual is a male in his 20s with no history of travel.

"The Department is working with the CDC on this investigation. We encourage all to continue practicing COVID-19 mitigation."

A followup tweet read: "At this time, experts anticipate little to no impact on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine.

"For updates on the state's vaccination efforts, text FLCOVID19 to 888777."

The confirmed spread of "Super Covid" comes as more than 19.7million people across the United States have tested positive for coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, at least 342,414 have died from Covid-19 in across the nation.

Florida's "Super-Covid" discovery comes one day after the strain was located in California, and two days after the highly contagious variant was confirmed in the Colorado National Guard.

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced the infectious mutant strain had made its way to the Golden State, fueling fears of a rapid spread across the US.

Newsom was speaking to Dr Anthony Fauci at a live-streamed event when he revealed the news.

He said: "Just an hour or so ago we were informed that this new variant - this new strain that we have identified obviously from the UK and some other parts of the globe identified in Colorado yesterday - has been identified here in the state of California."

The case was discovered in the San Diego area, county officials confirmed in a press briefing on Wednesday afternoon.

The patient is a man in his thirties with no travel history - raising fears of more cases in the state.

He began developing symptoms on Sunday and it was confirmed in the early hours of Wednesday that he had the UK Covid strain, San Diego County supervisor Nathan Fletcher said.

Dr Fauci said the case discovery didn't come as a surprise.

The infectious disease expert said: "We likely will be seeing reports from other states.

"Colorado was the first place to do that and I think we will start seeing it... through other countries intermittently."

Meanwhile, the two National Guards that are feared to be the first cases had been working at a nursing home in Colorado.

It was revealed on Wednesday that a case of the highly contagious "mutant" strain, which is rapidly spreading in the UK, had been detected in Colorado.

On Thursday, Emily Travanty, the scientific director at Colorado Dept of Public Health and Environment, said their lab is probing a possible second case.

Both men are National Guard members who are currently based at The Good Samaritan assisted living facility in Simla, 45 miles outside of Denver.