NEW YORK — It’s here.
Five cases of the heavily mutated omicron variant of COVID-19 have been detected in New York — and at least one involves a vaccinated individual, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday.
Four of the cases were confirmed in the five boroughs, including two in Queens and one in Brooklyn, de Blasio and Hochul said in a briefing from City Hall. The vaccination status of those four individuals was not immediately known.
The fifth case was detected in a vaccinated 67-year-old Suffolk County resident who recently returned from South Africa, where the variant has wreaked havoc since it was first discovered in a neighboring country last week.
Hochul urged New Yorkers to not panic over the development.
“No cause for alarm,” Hochul said. “We just want to make sure the public is aware of the information as we receive it.”
