Four travelers from Brazil’s Amazonas state have been identified with a new coronavirus variant, Japan’s health ministry said Sunday.
The strain varies from highly infectious strains first identified in Britain and South Africa that, in those countries, have caused a spike in cases.
The ministry official said research on the efficacy of vaccines against the new form was underway.
“At the moment, there is no proof showing the new variant found in those from Brazil is high in infectiousness,” Takaji Wakita, head of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, told a health ministry briefing.
Even so, Brazil’s Ministry of Health said Japanese authorities have confirmed that the latest version has 12 mutations, one of which is also present in the variants found in the UK. South Africa as well.
“It implies a potential higher virus infectiousness,” it said.
A man in his 40s had trouble breathing, a woman in her 30s had a headache and sore throat, and a teenage male had a fever, while a teenage girl showed no symptoms, were out of four travelers who arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on Jan. 2, the health ministry said.
The four individuals tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the airport quarantine and, according to the ministry, the latest mutant strain was identified by a thorough analysis of the NIID.
The ministry also said that three separate individuals who had close contact with a man infected with the strain were identified with the variant reported in Britain.
Japan announced a state of emergency for Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures on Thursday after seeing a sharp increase in coronavirus cases.
Cumulative cases have crossed around 289,000 nationally, with 4,061 deaths, said NHK, a public broadcaster.
Source: Japan Times
