TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th February, 2021) The Japanese National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) announced on Friday the detection of a brand new strain of the coronavirus, which is believed to be brought in from abroad and features mutations that can potentially reduce the efficacy of the existing vaccines.
The new strain belongs to B.1.1.316 lineage, whose spike protein has the E484K mutation, same as the South African and Brazilian variants, but lacks the N501Y mutation, which is typical of the UK variant, according to NIID.
"It has been determined that this genealogical mutation occurred outside of Japan. Cross-checks with GISAID database failed to determine the country of origin," the institute said.
As reported by Japanese newspaper Asahi, citing science sources, the combination of the new variant's mutations is feared to potentially make it resilient to the existing vaccines, especially the one by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said on Friday that the new variant has already infected 93 people, including two people who arrived from abroad. All other cases were detected in the Kanto region.
"Experts believe that the [mutated] strain risks turning out more contagious than the constant types and, if its spread continues, might lead to an acute spike in cases," Kato said at a press conference.
Japan has confirmed 151 cases of infection with the Brazilian, UK and South African variants in its territory, as of Friday. The country's total COVID-19 toll exceeds 424,000 cases, including over 7,300 deaths.
