— Japan’s health ministry said Saturday it has confirmed a variant of the coronavirus that has spread across Britain in two Tokyo residents — the first two cases of the new variant found outside of Japanese airports. A man in his 30s tested positive for the new variant Saturday after returning from Britain on Dec. 16, the ministry said in a statement. A second patient is a woman in her 20s who is related to the man. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government said the additional cases bring the prefectural total to 55,851. Japan had 3,823 new cases Friday for a national total of 213,547, with 3,155 deaths, the health ministry said.

Source: Daily Sun December 26, 2020 05:55 UTC