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Officials link Brazilian variant to asylum-seeking family in Yuma

Health officials confirm the variant was detected in family of asylum seekers

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - The Regional Center for Border Health (RCBH) confirmed Wednesday the Brazilian strain of coronavirus in Arizona originated from a family of asylum seekers who were released from CBP custody in Yuma.

RCBH also tells News 11's Crystal Jimenez, the three people who tested positive for the variant were asylum-seekers.

RCBH said all three people tested positive during the first week of March and are from the same family.

RCBH President and CEO Amanda Aguirre said her team is conducting contact tracing. They want to follow the path the family took from Border Patrol custody, to their trip to the testing facility.

The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) on Friday announced the presence of the Brazilian variant in the state. At that time, health officials did not reveal the location of the positive tests at that time.

Article Topic Follows: Yuma County Coronavirus

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Crystal Jimenez

Crystal Jimenez began at KYMA as a Digital Content Producer in June 2019, and is now a multimedia journalist.

Reach out to Crystal at crystal.jimenez@kecytv.com.

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Brandon Mejia

Brandon Mejia joins the news team as the evening anchor for KSWT. You can catch him weeknight at 6 and 10 p.m.

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