France reported its first case of the new variant of coronavirus recently identified in the UK.
It has increased concerns of a new wave of the virus hitting the euro zone’s second-biggest economy.
A Frenchman who recently arrived back in France from London on December 19 had tested positive for the new variant of the coronavirus, the country’s health ministry confirmed.
He is self-isolating and feeling fine, the ministry said.
Other countries have also reported cases of the new variant: on Friday, Japan confirmed five infections in passengers who had all arrived from the UK, while cases in Singapore, Denmark, Australia and the Netherlands have been reported too.
France registered 20,262 new, confirmed COVID-19 cases and 159 more related deaths in hospitals in the last 24 hours.
Has the new coronavirus strain reached Pakistan?
No evidence exists to back reports that the new strain of coronavirus in UK has allegedly found its way to Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s aide on health Dr Faisal Sultan said Thursday.
The premier’s aide was responding to a question during a webinar organised by the Pakistan Society for Awareness and Community Empowerment (PACE), where he said that Dr Atta-ur-Rehman had provided no scientific evidence of the new virus variant’s existence in the country.
The webinar was moderated by senior health journalist Muhammad Waqar Bhatti, convener PACE, while other panelists were Dr Faisal Mahmood, an infectious diseases expert from Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Karachi, Prof Sohail Akhtar, a pulmonologist from Indus Hospital Karachi and Dr Babar Saeed Khan, public and digital health expert and CEO of Ehad Healthcare Karachi.
