Will George, a graduate student at the University of Alaska Anchorage, is part of a team of scientists led by professor Eric Bortz, studying Covid-19 variants. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media)

The first case of a highly transmissible variant of the COVID-19 virus has been detected in Alaska. 

Alaska is only the fifth state to have a confirmed case of the P.1 variant, which likely originated in Brazil, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

State officials said the case was first discovered on Tuesday in a specimen collected from an Anchorage resident who developed COVID-19 symptoms earlier this month. They had no travel history, suggesting that the case was a result of community spread. 

Alaska’s Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Joe McLaughlin said by email the

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