The proportion of positive tests dropped from 6.15% to 5.86%, the department said.
The number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 fell to 2,165, while 433 of those patients are still listed as being in intensive care units and 288 are intubated, according to DPH.
This update comes as the COVID-19 variant first found in the United Kingdom has officially been detected in Massachusetts, officials announced Sunday. Hundreds of first responders rolled up their sleeves Friday at Gillette Stadium, the first mass vaccination site in Massachusetts.
The woman, a Boston resident in her 20s, travelled to the U.K. and returned to the state in early January. She began feeling ill and received a positive test, officials said. The variant was then detected through a screening program established by the CDC.
Image: CDC
On Sunday afternoon, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced that the first case of the COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7 has been detected in the state.
This is the same variant initially discovered in the United Kingdom.
Global health officials say the variation is 70% more contagious.
According to MA officials, the individual developed symptoms in early January and tested positive for COVID-19 a genetic sample was sent to an out-of-state laboratory as part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) established surveillance process to identify COVID-19 variants. The State Public Health Laboratory was notified last evening of the results.
The individual is a female Boston resident in her 20’s who had traveled to the United Kingdom and became ill the day after she returned. She had tested negative for COVID-19 prior to leaving the U.K.