Another new COVID-19 variant found in Brazilian travellers: Japan

Japan's Health Ministry said on Sunday that a new COVID-19 variant has been detected in four travellers from Brazil’s Amazonas state. 

The Ministry said that studies are underway into the efficacy of vaccines against this new variant, which differs from highly-infectious variants from Britain and South Africa that caused a surge in cases.

"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 at the Health Ministry briefing.

"Of the four travellers who arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on Jan. 2, a man in his forties had a problem breathing, a woman in her thirties had a headache and sore throat and a man in his teens had a fever, while a woman in her teens showed no symptoms," the Health Ministry said.

On last week's Thursday, Japan declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and three prefectures neighbouring the capital, after seeing a steep rise in COVID-19 cases.

Source: Reuters

Written by Siddhant Sharma