A transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2, also known as the 2019 novel coronavirus. TOKYO - Japan has confirmed its first cases of the new coronavirus variant spreading in Britain, a government official said Friday.Five people who tested positive for the new strain are under 70 and had travel histories to Britain, the ministry said.
Four are asymptomatic.Two of the five arrived in Haneda airport in Tokyo while the others landed in Kansai airport in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan.Last weekend, Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the new variant of the coronavirus seemed to spread more easily than earlier ones and was moving rapidly through England.