Japan on Monday confirmed its third case of the omicron variant of the coronavirus — the first Japanese national to be infected with the strain — government sources said.
Earlier in the day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference that a man in his 30s who had traveled to Italy was found to be infected with the heavily mutated variant. Government sources said the man had arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Dec. 1.
The sources confirmed that the man in his 30s and the Japanese case were the same.
The man’s traveling companion and other passengers seated nearby on the flight have already been identified, Matsuno said.
Japan confirmed its first domestic case of the omicron variant on Nov. 30 — a Namibian diplomat in his 30s. It confirmed a second unrelated case, a man in his 20s who traveled from Peru, the following day. Both cases were confirmed during screening at Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture.
In the two earlier cases, all passengers on the same flight were considered close contacts. In a shift in policy, all of those close contacts are being monitored and have been required to remain quarantined for a total of 14 days. They must also undergo PCR tests once every two days.
The omicron variant has already been detected in dozens of countries, including the United States, Australia and parts of Europe since being first reported by South Africa last month.
Scientists are rushing to discover whether the highly mutated strain is more transmissible than the existing delta variant or able to evade immunity from vaccines or previous infections.
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