Three new cases of the omicron COVID-19 variant have been discovered in New York State, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Saturday.

All three of the new cases are from New York City, for a total of seven New York City residents and one from Suffolk County confirmed to have the omicron variant.

"We knew the omicron variant was coming and we expect to see more cases. But let me be clear: We are not defenseless," Gov. Hochul said. "We have the tools to help prevent the spread of this deadly virus: Get your vaccine, get your booster, and wear your mask. Let's use these tools to protect ourselves and our loved ones as we approach the holidays."

Three of the Omicron cases were identified at Mt. Sinai, three cases were identified at the Pandemic Response Lab (PRL), one case was confirmed by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Suffolk County case was identified by PRL on December 2.

"The omicron variant is here, and as anticipated we are seeing the beginning of community spread,” Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said. “We continue to work closely with our partners at the national, state, and local levels. At this time, we do not know how quickly omicron will spread or how severe the symptoms of omicron will be. What we are seeing is that the rise of cases across New York State continues to be traced to the delta variant. We encourage all New Yorkers to use the best preventative tools we have: get vaccinated, get boosted and wear a mask."

While all of these cases are believed to be unrelated to the recent Anime NYC convention at the Javits Center, the department still urges anyone who attended to get tested for COVID-19 and wear a mask in public places.