San Diego County identified its first case of the Omicron COVID-19 variant Thursday, the county Health and Human Services Agency announced.
The infection was found in a San Diego resident who had recently traveled abroad. The patient, who had been vaccinated and received a booster, was not hospitalized and is under isolation.
The patient tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, the county reported. The San Diego Epidemiology and Research for COVID Health Alliance then conducted whole genome sequencing and identified the Omicron variant in the positive sample Thursday morning.
The county HHSA is conducting an investigation to identify people who may have had close contact with the patient.
"We expected that the Omicron variant would make its way to San Diego, and it has," said Dr. Wilma J. Wooten, county public health officer. "We are continuing to monitor for the Omicron variant and will report any other cases to the public when they are identified."
The county reported 607 new COVID-19 infections and five deaths Thursday, increasing the cumulative totals to 391,545 cases and 4,374 deaths.
The number of COVID patients hospitalized in San Diego County remained unchanged from Wednesday at 320, according to the latest state figures.
Of those patients, 80 were in intensive care, five less than Wednesday.
A total of 528,256 San Diego County residents have received their COVID-19 booster shots and all county vaccination sites have Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccinations available.
County officials recommend making an appointment before visiting a vaccination site to avoid having to wait. Walk-ins are being accommodated daily until capacity is reached.
RELATED: San Diego County identifies its first case of Omicron COVID-19 variant
San Diego County's case rate per 100,000 residents is 14.2 overall, 8.3 for fully vaccinated people and 24.8 for not fully vaccinated San Diegans.
A total of 26,230 new tests were reported to the county on Thursday. A total of 4.1% of all tests returned positive over the past week.
More than 2.69 million San Diego County residents have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, 85.5% of residents age 5 and older.
More than 2.39 million people, or 75.9% of residents 5 and older, are fully vaccinated.
