Japan on Friday confirmed its first cases of a mutated form of COVID-19 in five people who entered the nation from the U.K., health minister Norihisa Tamura said, Japan Times reported.
The same day, Japan confirmed a record 3,748 new coronavirus cases, the third consecutive day above 3,000.
The people who tested positive with the new strain, which is said to spread more easily and was blamed for a recent spike in infections in the U.K., returned to Japan this month — two at Tokyo’s Haneda airport and and three at Kansai International Airport in Osaka.
Japan on Thursday imposed a temporary ban on new arrivals of foreign nationals from Britain coming for purposes such as business or study, but existing foreign residents and Japanese nationals have still been allowed to enter.
On Saturday, Tokyo reported a record 949 new COVID-19 cases as infections continue to climb throughout the country.
