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Two cases of Zika discovered in Miami Beach, including one tourist, reports say

Posted at 2:34 PM, Aug 18, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-19 09:50:03-04

Miami Beach officials announced Thursday that two cases have been discovered in the city, NBC 6 Miami reported.

A source told NBC 6news that one case was from a tourist that visited the city two weeks ago, while the other is from a resident who works on the beach.

State officials were expected to identify a specific geographic area for ongoing Zika transmission within Miami Beach Thursday afternoon, sources told the Miami Herald.

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When reached for comment the Florida Department of Health released this statement:

We are continuing to investigate six cases that do not have an immediately evident link to the one-mile area where we believe local transmission is occurring. If investigations reveal additional areas of likely active transmission, the department will announce a defined area of concern.

In its daily update the DOH later confirmed two new non-travel related cases and said both are located outside of the one-square mile area in Miami-Dade County. 

The department also announced 18 new travel-related cases Thursday with seven in Miami-Dade, four in Palm Beach, three in Broward, one in Brevard, one in Lee, one in Marion and one in Pinellas counties.