The first case of a new Covid variant is in the state of Texas after health officials confirmed a report of the variant in Houston.

The announcement comes as infections of the disease in the two biggest counties in the Rio Grande Valley are growing.

On Friday, Hidalgo County reported 1,126 new cases of the disease and one coronavirus-related death.

The report covers the period of Friday, Aug. 25 through Thursday, Aug. 31.

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According to the report, 52 Hidalgo County residents, including six children, are hospitalized with the disease. Of those 52 patients, 11 of them are in the ICU.

On Thursday, Cameron County reported more than 3,000 new cases of the disease for the entire month of August, adding that there has been a clear increase in cases since the end of July.

The Valley's hospitalization rate per 100,000 people is low, but Brownsville Health Authority Dr. Christopher Romero said that doesn’t mean we’re in the clear.

“This virus continues to evolve,” Romero said. “Right now we're dealing with sub variants of omicron that have continued to expand in the United States, but just recently there was a new variant that was picked up internationally that is now here in the United States.”

Romero said that despite the progress of the virus, the new variants have not resulted in severe diseases like those seen at the start of the pandemic.

“So we will see if the immunity that we have from prior infection and prior vaccination continues to cover well against these new variants that come out, as well as the development of new vaccines that are coming on the market later,” Romero said.

Those who think they’ve been exposed to COVID-19 or are showing symptoms are urged to get tested as soon as possible and to self-isolate until they test negative.