British, South African corornavirus mutations detected in Austria

A health care worker collects a swab sample from a man during a rapid antigen test for army members and volunteers before the start of a mass test of Vienna's population, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Vienna, Austria, December 3, 2020. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

Austria has found four cases of the coronavirus mutation first detected in Britain and one case of the South African mutation, Franz Allerberger of public health agency AGES told a news conference on Monday.

Both Britain and South Africa have discovered new, more infectious variants in the coronavirus in recent weeks that have driven a surge in cases.

Allerberger said the four cases of the UK variant had been found in an Austrian man who arrived from London on Dec. 21, an Austrian 12-year-old girl who travelled from England on Dec. 18, and two Slovak children who are siblings, while the South African variant had been detected in a 30-year-old Austrian woman who returned from vacation in South Africa on Dec. 6.

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan, Writing by Silke Kotrowitz, Editing by Michael Shields)