Japan ’s health ministryhas announcedit has found a new coronavirus strain after a detailed test of four travelers that arrived in the country from Brazil . The traveler tested positive for the variant while in quarantine at Tokyo ’s Haneda Airport . Some of the travels pose with symptom . One of the men in his 40sinitially lay out as asymptomaticbut was later hospitalized after prepare external respiration difficulties , Bloombergreports .
According to sureness in Japan , the fresh variant belongs to theB.1.1.248 strainand has 12 mutations . One of those chromosomal mutation is also present in the latterly identifiedUKandSouth Africanvariants , put up headache that the new variant in Japan may also potentially be more contagious .
“ At the minute , there is no proof prove the new random variable found in those from Brazil is eminent in infectiousness,”statedTakaji Wakita , principal of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases ( NIID ) , in a wellness ministry briefing .
A elaborate investigation by the NIID is currently underway to understand the mutation hear and to appraise how infectious the newfangled variant might be and if current vaccinum will still play . On January 7 , the quality pastor of Japan , Yoshihide Suga , announced a1 - month state of emergencyin Tokyo due to record high young infections in the capital .
" The place has become more and more troubling nationwide and we have a strong sense of crisis , " the Prime Ministersaidin a briefing .
Currently , Japan hastemporally bannedentry to alien national from certain countries and is on high alarm with pre - screening check at aerodrome for anyone traveling for emergency reasons to the rural area due to brisk fear that the newfangled variant might speedily spread if it turns out to be more catching . This could lead to nonindulgent standard in the country , like to those currently experience in the UK to taste and stem the spread .
Japan has already been drive to postpone the Olympic Games that were due to take place in Tokyo in 2020 . A recentsurveyfound that about 80 percent of people in Japan require the game to be further check or even cancel due to the huge raise in new infection .
Most countries have now start to vaccinate their populations with the multipleapproved COVID-19 vaccinesavailable , however , much about these new var. and how they may change the course of the pandemic in 2021 remain unclear .
For more information about COVID-19 , mark out theIFLScience COVID-19 hubwhere you may follow the current Department of State of the pandemic , the progress of vaccinum development , and further perceptivity into the disease .
