The first case of a coronavirus variant that recently emerged in Brazil has been confirmed in the United States, health authorities in the state of Minnesota said.

The Minnesota Department of Health said in a statement that the “Public Health Laboratory has found the variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus known as the Brazil P.1 variant in a specimen from a Minnesota resident with recent travel history to Brazil”.

The patient, who is a resident of the Twin Cities metro area of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, tested positive for Covid-19 in early January and was advised to isolate, the statement said. Further lab information revealed the case to be the Brazil variant, AFP reported.

This case, as well as the discovery of three cases of the British coronavirus variant in Minnesota in the past few weeks, underscores “why it is so important to limit travel during a pandemic as much as possible,” state epidemiologist Ruth Lynfield said in the statement.