US federal health officials have warned pregnant women not to travel to trendy Miami Beach after Florida confirmed that the mosquito-borne Zika virus was active in the popular tourist destination. The new warnings represent a challenge to Florida's multibillion dollar tourism industry, with Miami Beach accounting for nearly half of visitor stays in the Greater Miami area. In a news conference, Florida Governor Rick Scott said state health officials had identified five cases of Zika believed to be contracted in Miami Beach. The new transmissions come as Miami-Dade continues to battle Zika in the Wynwood arts neighborhood of Miami, the site of the first locally transmitted cases of Zika in the continental US. In Miami Beach, the state believes Zika transmission is confined to between 8th and 28th streets in the popular South Beach neighborhood.

Source: Otago Daily Times August 20, 2016 03:45 UTC