TOKYO (Reuters) – About 70 percent of coronavirus patients tested at a Tokyo hospital last month carried a known mutation to reduce protection against the vaccine, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said on Sunday.
The E484K mutation, nicknamed “Eek” by some scientists, was found in 10 of 14 people who tested positive for the virus at Tokyo Medical and Dental University Medical Hospital in March, according to the report.
During the two months to March, 12 of 36 patients with COVID carried the mutation, with none of them having recently traveled abroad or reporting contacts with people who had it, he said.
Hospital officials were not immediately available for comment.
Ahead of the summer Olympics scheduled to begin in July, Japan is facing a new wave of infections. Health experts are especially concerned about the spread of mutant strains, even though large-scale vaccinations of the general population have not yet begun.
On Friday, 446 new infections were recorded in Tokyo, although it is still well below the maximum of more than 2,500 in January.
In Osaka, 666 cases were reported. Health experts have expressed concern about the spread around this western metropolis of a mutant strain that is known to have originated in Britain.
NHK said none of the patients at the Tokyo hospital wore the British stump.
Ritsuko Ando reports; Edited by William Mallard