National Institute of Infectious Diseases of Japan authorities said they found a new strain of the coronavirus in four passengers arriving from Brazil.
The new variant has similarities to strains found in the UK and South Africa, the NIID said in a statement on Sunday. Information about the new variant is limited to its genetic composition and it is difficult to immediately determine the contamination of the strain or the effectiveness of current vaccines against it, the institute said.
In a separate statement, the Ministry of Health of Japan He said the four passengers who arrived at Haneda Japanese airport from Brazil on January 2 were later diagnosed with a variant of the virus. A forty-year-old man, asymptomatic on arrival, was hospitalized as his respiratory system worsened.
The NIID has informed the World Health Organization of the new strain, the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun he reported, adding that the institute is investigating whether the variant causes more serious cases.
(Updates with patient details in the third paragraph)