North Dakota New Variant Cases Jump 50-Percent In Week

(Bismarck, ND) -- Health officials say new cases of COVID-19 variants are up nearly 50-percent in North Dakota over the past week.  

Officials with North Dakota's state lab identified over 16-hundred cases of five variants during the last week, up by 115 from the previous week.  

Health officials say the actual number of variant cases is almost certainly higher because only a fraction go through complex lab testing.  

Officials have linked two deaths to the delta variant, along with over 20 hospitalizations.