South Dakota health officials report two new variant strains of the coronavirus in the state.
Six cases of the variants originally identified in South Africa and California were detected in Brookings and Roberts counties. There are now 20 people infected with these strains.
This comes roughly two weeks after the Department of Health reported initial cases of the B.1.1.7 variant. That strain is identified in Brookings, Lyman, Minnehaha, Pennington and Roberts counties.
The South Dakota Department of Health reports 254 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths.
Health officials report all three fatalities were long term care residents. The state’s death toll from the coronavirus is now 1,927.
Active cases are up to 2,428.
Hospitalizations are up for the fourth day. There are 74 people hospitalized.
Health systems have distributed vaccine doses to more than 228,000 South Dakotans. Roughly 144,000 people have finished the full vaccine series.