Covid-19: a new variant in Japan being analyzed
Japanese passengers at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, where 4 travelers from Brazil have been detected carrying a new variant of Covid-19.
AP - Koji Sasahara
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
A new variant of the coronavirus has been identified in Japan in four people who arrived in early January from Brazil, local authorities announced this weekend.
Its degree of contagiousness is not yet known at this stage.
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Japan is working to isolate and analyze the new variant of the coronavirus detected in 4 people, two adults and two children who arrived from Brazil at Haneda airport in Tokyo on January 2.
He is a 40-year-old hospitalized with breathing difficulties, a 30-something who suffers from a sore throat and headache, a young boy who has a fever and a young girl who is asymptomatic.
All tested positive during a quarantine at the Tokyo airport.
"At
the moment, there is no proof that the new variant is highly contagious,
" Takaji Wakita, director of the Japanese Institute of Infectious Diseases
,
said on Tuesday at a press conference by the Ministry of Health in Tokyo, quoted by the
Japan Times.
However, the Brazilian Ministry of Health has been notified by the Japanese authorities that the new variant has 12 mutations, one of which is also present in the variants detected in the United Kingdom and South Africa.
“
This would imply a high potential for contagion,
” acknowledged Takaji Wakita.
Fears of variants resistant to Covid-19 vaccines
Viruses mutate regularly, experts say, and not all mutations make the disease easier to contract or more serious.
However, the findings of the British and South African variants have raised concerns that a vaccine-resistant version of Covid-19 may emerge.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency "
was informed by Japan over the weekend of a new variant of the virus
."
“The
more the Covid-19 spreads, the more likely it is that it will still evolve.
Note that the transmissibility of certain variants of the virus seems to increase,
”he added.
State of emergency in Tokyo and rumors of cancellation of the Olympics
The Japanese Ministry of Health also added that the British variant had been found in three people who had close contact with a man infected with the same strain.
For its part, the Brazilian government has requested more information on this new variant, including its genetic sequence, but also on the stages of the stay in Brazil of the 4 sick people in order to trace any contact cases.
In the midst of the second wave,
Jair Bolsonaro's country
currently has more than 50,000 new cases per day.
The British and South African variants have been detected there.
Japan is far from this record.
But faced with a third wave of the epidemic, the
situation is worsening in the archipelago
with 293,802 cases and 3,899 deaths on Tuesday.
The government declared a state of emergency last week in Tokyo and then in three prefectures neighboring the capital.
Until now still denied by the authorities, rumors continue to circulate about the cancellation of the Olympic Games already postponed for a year, and now scheduled for this summer.
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See also: Tokyo 2020: Japan wants to reassure the sports world despite the state of emergency
(And with agencies)
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