Japan’s health ministry on Friday reported three more novel coronavirus variant cases, with the cumulative number of such cases in the nation rising to 59.

A coronavirus variant spreading in Britain has been found from a Tokyo woman in her fifties, who had close contact with a coronavirus-infected man in his fifties, a resident of the Japanese capital, according to the ministry. Both of them have never been abroad.

This was the tenth suspected case of community-acquired infection for a variant strain of the novel coronavirus. A detailed examination is underway for the Tokyo man as well, the ministry said.

The woman’s infection with the British variant was discovered as the ministry examined samples collected from some 1,700 people in Tokyo who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The woman was hospitalized in Tokyo on Wednesday after developing symptoms on Sunday. Neither the woman nor the man is in severe condition, according to the ministry.

The British variant was also found from two people who flew to Japan from abroad earlier this month, the ministry said. One of them, a man in his fifties, arrived at Narita International Airport, near Tokyo, on January 21, and the other, a woman in her twenties, flew to Tokyo International Airport at Haneda on January 22.

The man and the woman had been to the United Arab Emirates and Britain, respectively.

JIJI Press