Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 13) – A 60-year-old man who arrived in the Philippines from Japan last February was found to have contracted a new coronavirus variant, the Japanese health authorities announced on Friday.
The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said the coronavirus variant detected in the man was ‘different’ from those discovered in Brazil, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
“The tension has begun to be detected in the Philippines and has spread to some extent here,” the health ministry said in its findings.
The Japanese health authorities said the 60-year-old man arrived in Japan on February 25 last year via Narita airport near Tokyo and was asymptomatic. The man, whose nationality is not mentioned, showed positive towards COVID-19 after undergoing quarantine at the said airport.
The Department of Health in the Philippines has yet to comment on the matter.