Japan's First Confirmed Omicron Variant Patient Fully Vaccinated - Health Minister

TOKYO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th November, 2021) Japan's first patient confirmed to be infected with the heavily mutated Omicron variant of the coronavirus was fully immunized, Health Minister Shigeyuki Goto said Tuesday.

Chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said earlier in the day that a man in his 30s tested positive for the strain after arriving in Japan from southern Africa. He was hospitalized and his contacts isolated.

"He received two doses of a vaccine," Goto told a news conference.

Matsuno was cited as saying by the Kyodo news agency that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida asked him to lead a task force that would spearhead the government's response to Omicron.

Omicron has accumulated some 50 mutations, more than 30 in its spike protein alone, which is the target of most COVID-19 vaccines, making it potentially more transmissible.

The new strain has spread throughout Africa and Europe after it was first reported by South Africa last week. The World Health Organization declared it a variant of concern on Friday.