The health ministry plans to strengthen its monitoring system to prevent the spread of the Indian variant of the novel coronavirus by randomly conducting tests for the variant on 40% of newly infected people.
Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura announced the plan at the ministry's advisory panel meeting Wednesday in a bid to guard against the spread of the highly infectious Indian variant, which is now described as "Delta."
According to the ministry, the number of people identified as infected with the Indian variant, not counting those confirmed at airport quarantine, was 53 in 12 prefectures as of May 31.
The Indian variant is said to be more infectious than the British variant, now described as Alpha, which is now the mainstream variant in the nation. There are reports that the Indian variant is replacing the British variant overseas, and thus it is necessary to control the spread of infection as much as possible, the advisory body said.
The advisory body also said the number of newly infected people -- especially younger ones -- has rapidly increased in Okinawa Prefecture, reaching an unprecedentedly high level. In Tokyo, Osaka Prefecture and other areas subject to emergency declarations, the number of infected people is generally on a downward trend.
In response to the World Health Organization's decision to use Greek letters such as Alpha and Beta to label coronavirus variants, the ministry has announced it plans to follow suit.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
