/ A person in the mask screens visitors to the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7 is believed to be up to 70% more transmissible than previously identified strains of the virus, though not more severe. Harris County on Thursday confirmed Texas’ first case of a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus first discovered in the U.K. A man between the ages of 30 and 40 in southwest Harris County outside the city of Houston, with no travel history, tested positive for the COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7. The new variant is believed to be up to 70% more transmissible than previously identified strains of the virus, though not more severe. The currently approved vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are likely effective against the new variant, health officials have said.