The U.S. Midwest state of Illinois has confirmed its first case of a new COVID-19 variant called B.1.1.7, local media reported on Friday, quoting state and Chicago public health officials.

Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine identified the variant while analyzing samples of positive COVID-19 tests.

Chicago public health officials said the person with the variant had traveled to the UK and the Middle East in the two weeks prior to being diagnosed with COVID-19.

The new variant was first identified in the United States in Colorado and has since spread to about a dozen states. The variant spreads more easily, experts believe, but there isn't evidence that it's more severe or increases the risk of death.