Japan fears spread of UK Covid strain after three new mystery cases

Three new cases of the fast-spreading UK variant of Covid-19 have been discovered in Japan, with officials admitting they have not been able to determine how they were infected.

The three people live in Shizuoka Prefecture, to the west of Tokyo, and have not travelled to the UK, the ministry of health said on Monday.

Officials also said there was no evidence that any of the three came into contact with any of the 42 people in Japan who have been diagnosed with the UK strain of the virus, raising the possibility that it is already spreading in the general population.

“We do not know how these people in Shizuoka became infected or how widely it has spread”, said Kazuhiro Tateda, president of the Japan Association of Infectious Diseases and a member of the emergency health panel set up to advise the government.

“The government has sent one of its ‘cluster-buster’ teams to examine the people, to try to confirm the variant of the virus and identify anyone that they have had contact with," he told The Telegraph.

“But we have to repeat that this is a small outbreak in comparison to the 4,000 or so cases that are being reported across the country each day now," he said.

“We do not know how this is going to pan out, although the worst-case scenario would be a situation like we see in Britain at the moment.

“Right now, the government’s message is for people to not panic or over-react," he added.

Authorities believe the British strain of the virus was brought into the country by a Japanese national returning home in late December.

If the spread is not checked, Japan’s already creaking health system would be placed under additional stresses.

Earlier this month, the Japanese government expanded a state of emergency that was initially implemented in Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures to seven more heavily populated prefectures, including Osaka.

Japan has reported more than 335,000 coronavirus infections to date and over 4,500 deaths.