Japan has detected yet another new variant of COVID-19, which appears to have arrived with travelers from Brazil, the Ministry of Health reported on Sunday.
The mutation was detected in four people who arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on January 2 after traveling from the state of Amazonas, including a man with breathing difficulties and another with a fever, officials said.
The newest variant appears to be different from the highly infectious strains responsible for an explosion of cases in Britain and South Africa, the ministry said.
“At the moment, there is no evidence that the new variant found in Brazilians is highly infectious,” said Takaji Wakita, head of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, in a statement from the ministry of health.
Studies on the effectiveness of vaccines against the new variant are already underway, the ministry said.
Japan has already declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and three prefectures neighboring the capital after an explosion of cases.
The country has so far had almost 289,000 confirmed cases, with 3,850 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.