Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan admired for its iconic Mount Fuji is a peaceful place following the Pacific Ocean coastline. A Health Ministry press release caused more than a ripple when it reported three Japanese residents positive with UK COVID. This was particularly worrying because the three aged from their 20s to their 60s had not visited Britain. This presumably makes them secondary infections in a region 125 miles west of Tokyo.
How Did Three Japanese Test Positive With UK COVID?
That’s what Shizuoka Prefecture health officials need to know urgently. The three cases are the first local occurrences of the variant in the prefecture. However, Japanese national authorities do have 45 cases of British, South African, and Brazilian strains in total on record.
This is a small proportion of the total 335,000 COVID-19 infections in the island state, including 4,500 deaths. However, Japan should not drop its guard because the three alien strains have not had much time to spread globally. Moreover, there are signs the Brazilian strain is becoming more active too.
Four Travelers Arriving From Brazil Test Positive
Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases reported four infections arriving Sunday January 17, 2021. They shared several mutations in common with variants from United Kingdom and South Africa. These taken together with three Japanese testing positive with UK COVID around the same time, must sound alarm bells.
Health scientists already know how infectious the UK and South African strains are. However, all they definitely know about the Brazilian variant is its genetic make-up, and that nation’s high infection rate.
For the rest, we shall have to wait and see. And hope the traditionally disciplined Japanese keep wearing face masks and remembering social distancing. They have held their infection rate down to 2,553 per million of population. By comparison Canada scores 18,686, South Africa 22,405, Brazil 39,778, and U.S. 73,737 per million of population.
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Preview Image: Mount Fuji from Fuji, Shizuoka
