COVID-19 variant first detected in Brazil confirmed in Massachusetts By Travis Andersen and Martin Finucane Globe Staff,Updated March 16, 2021, 11:00 a.m. Email to a Friend A health worker applies a dose of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine from her vehicle in the Kalunga Vao de Almas community, a rural area on the outskirts of Cavalcante, Goias state, Brazil.Eraldo Peres/Associated Press State public health officials said Tuesday that a COVID-19 variant first detected in Brazil has surfaced in Massachusetts. The first confirmed case of the P.1 variant was identified in a Barnstable County woman in her 30s, the Department of Public Health said in a statement.