Mar 12 (NHK) - The western Japanese city of Kobe says it has found that coronavirus cases caused by a variant first detected in Britain have been on the rise. The city says a recent survey shows about 39 percent of samples involved the variant.
A health institute in the city conducted the survey to check the spread of the new variant after cases involving it were reported there.
The survey shows that of 67 samples from people whose infections were confirmed in the week through March 4, 26, or 38.8 percent, involved infection by the variant.
Of the 79 samples from cases confirmed in the week through February 18, 12, or 15.2 percent, involved the variant.
The ratio grew to 21.9 percent, or seven out of 32 cases, in the week through February 25.
The city also said a variant of unknown origin was found in the samples of five patients in the two weeks through March 4.
Kobe Mayor Hisamoto Kizo said the new variant is definitely spreading, but that since most of the cases occurred among those who had close contact with infected people, the variant does not seem to be spreading widely.
The mayor asked people to take thorough antivirus measures, as the number of new cases is rising.
