Mutated COVID-19 Strain Detected in Orange County

A researcher works in a lab that's developing testing for the COVID-19 coronavirus, at Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Discovery and Innovation in Nutley, N.J., on Feb. 28, 2020. Kena Betancur/Getty Images

A mutated strain of COVID-19 has landed in numerous Southern California counties, health officials said as they worked to better understand the variant.

The California Department of Public Health (CDCH) said Jan. 17 that the 452R variant has been detected in about a dozen counties, including Orange, San Diego, and Los Angeles counties.  The department said it’s not known how prevalent the 452R variant is statewide, nationally, or globally.