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- In Japan, the South African variant of the Covid-19 virus has been detected.
- It was found in a woman who arrived in the country on December 19.
- Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga urged ministers to be vigilant.
Japan on Monday detected a variant of coronavirus found in South Africa, the government said, the first such discovery in a nation that has already identified more than a dozen cases of another variant that is spreading rapidly in Britain.
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A woman in her 30s who arrived in Japan on December 19 was found to be infected with the new variant of the virus, the Health Ministry said.
South African health authorities have said the variant could be responsible for a recent spike in infections.
The announcement of the detection of the South African-linked variant comes after the Japanese government began banning the entry of non-resident foreign nationals on Monday following the discovery of the UK variant in Japan.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga urged calm ahead of the New Year holidays, when hospitals tend to be understaffed, and ordered ministers to remain vigilant.
“They say there is no evidence to show that vaccines already being administered abroad are not effective against this variant, and the anti-infective steps for it have not changed from those of the conventional virus,” Suga said, referring to the new one, spreading the UK variant.
‘Tighten the restraints even a little more’
He spoke before the announcement of the detection of the South African-linked variant.
“The virus does not recognize the end of the year or New Year holidays. I ask each minister to raise the level of his sense of urgency and carry out thorough countermeasures,” he told a meeting of the government working group on responses to coronavirus.
A Japanese business traveler at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, where few people were seen, said the government should do more.
“Although Japan is doing things to counteract the variance, there are still case reports in Japan,” said Seiji Oohira, 56, arriving from India, where he works for a construction-related company.
“So I think it is better to tighten the restrictions a little more.”
Japan is facing a third wave of new coronavirus infections, with daily cases reaching a record 3,881 on Saturday, according to public broadcaster NHK.
The deaths reached an all-time high of 64 on Friday.
Yuichiro Hata, a 53-year-old former transportation minister and the son of former Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata, died of Covid-19 on Sunday, the Democratic Constitutional Party of Japan said, becoming the first incumbent lawmaker to succumb to the disease.
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