Maryland is bolstering its COVID-19 screening capacity after variants of the virus were detected in the state.

At a press conference Tuesday, Gov. Larry Hogan said the state is partnering with the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University to increase screening of variants from Brazil, South Africa and the U.K. by more than 100%.

“This enhanced capacity will enable us to screen and sequence over 10% of COVID cases, giving Maryland one of the strongest surveillance programs in America,” Hogan said. “If Maryland were a country, it would rank us sixth in the world in terms of percentage of cases being sequenced.”

Genome sequencing allows scientists to decode the virus’s genetic makeup and learn more about how it evolves over time. Jinlene Chan, deputy secretary of public health services, said COVID variants are more infectious than old strains of the virus, but have not been found to be more severe.

“We will be expanding our capacity from approximately 300 sequences a week to over 700 sequences,” Chan said. “So that’s about 10% or over 10% of the total number of cases that we are currently averaging every week.”

So far, the state has identified approximately 60 individuals who have contracted variants of the virus, mostly variants from the U.K. Chan said a majority of these individuals did not contract the virus outside the county and believes community spread in the state is increasing.

Hogan also announced that Maryland continues to ramp up its vaccination capacity ahead of the rollout of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which the governor anticipates the FDA could approve as early as next week. The state is opening four mass vaccination sites — including one at M&T Bank Stadium — in order to make the most of its supply. It has also launched a COVID information hotline to connect people who need access to vaccines and an appointment pre-registration system.

But despite efforts to vaccinate as many people as possible, Hogan said the state simply does not have enough vaccines to go around. He and other governors have called on the federal government to increase vaccine allotment.

The state has administered 1 million vaccine doses — more than 200,000 in the last week alone — and is seeing an overall improvement in its key COVID metrics. Case numbers, the positivity rate and nursing home cases are the lowest they’ve been since October. Hospitalizations have also dropped 50% in the last six weeks.

When asked how Maryland is ensuring equity in vaccine distribution, Hogan said despite the state’s best efforts, Prince George’s County residents are reluctant to get vaccinated. Prince George’s County has a majority Black population and some of the state’s highest case rates.

“We’ve asked the local health departments to appoint an equity officer and have them focus their efforts on reaching underserved communities in places where they need more help,” Hogan said. “We’re going into mobile vaccination centers. It’s taken into consideration when we’re opening up pharmacies and other locations.”

Hogan also announced he is issuing an executive order to require everyone over the age of five to wear a mask as schools prepare to reopen for in-person classes next month. Last week, the state submitted a $1.5 billion dollar supplemental budget to facilitate school reopenings. Schools will also be provided with unlimited PPE and more than $1 million worth of COVID tests for public and private schools.

There has also been an increase in vaccine-related fraud. Last week, the U.S. Attorney for Maryland pressed charges against three individuals from Baltimore attempting to sell COVID vaccines.

“I want to make this very clear. No one can sell you a vaccine. No one can charge you for a vaccine. It is free. No insurance information is required and no Social Security information is required,” Hogan said.