Coronavirus variant from South Africa found in Japan

A passenger is seen at the check-in area of the international flight terminal at Tokyo International Airport, commonly know as Haneda airport, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Tokyo, Japan December 28, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Japan on Monday detected a coronavirus variant found in South Africa, the government said, the first such discovery in a nation that has already identified more than a dozen cases of another variant that is spreading rapidly in Britain.

A woman in her 30s who arrived in Japan on Dec. 19 was found to be infected with the new virus variant, the health ministry said. South Africa's health authorities have said the variant might be responsible for a recent surge in infections there.

FILE PHOTO: Japan's Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Yuichiro Hata (C) and other lawmakers are led by a Shinto priest after offering prayers to war dead at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo August 15, 2012, on the 67th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

The announcement of the detection of the South Africa-linked variant comes after the Japanese government on Monday started banning the entry of non-resident foreign nationals following the discovery of the UK variant in Japan.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga urged calm ahead of the New Year holidays, when hospitals tend to be understaffed, and instructed ministers to remain alert.

"They say that no evidence is showing the vaccines that are already being administered overseas are not effective against this variant, and anti-infection steps for it are unchanged from those for the conventional virus," Suga said, referring to the new, fast-spreading UK variant.

FILE PHOTO: Japan's newly-appointed Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Yuichiro Hata attends a news conference at the premier's official residence in Tokyo June 4, 2012. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File Photo

He spoke ahead of the announcement of the detection of the South Africa-linked variant.

"The virus recognises no year-end or New Year holidays. I ask each minister to raise the level of their sense of urgency and thoroughly carry out counter measures," he told a meeting of the government's task force on coronavirus responses.

A Japanese business traveller at Tokyo's Haneda airport, where few people were seen, said the government should do more.

"Even though Japan is doing things to counter the variant, there are still reports of cases in Japan," 56-year-old Seiji Oohira said on arriving from India, where he works for a construction-related company.

"So I think it's better to tighten the restrictions even a little bit further."

Japan is facing a third wave of novel coronavirus infections, with daily cases hitting a record 3,881 on Saturday, according to public broadcaster NHK. Fatalities hit an all-time high of 64 on Friday.

Yuichiro Hata, a 53-year-old former transport minister and the son of former Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata, died of COVID-19 on Sunday, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan said, becoming the first incumbent lawmaker to succumb to the disease.

(Reporting by Irene Wang, Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Bernadette Baum)