Vietnam reports 1st case of COVID-19 variant
Xinhua
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This picture taken on December 17, 2020 shows Vietnamese military medical officials (L) giving a shot of the Covid-19 vaccine Nanocovax, developed by Vietnamese pharmaceutical firm Nanogen, to a volunteer (R) during the start of human trials at the Military Medical University in Hanoi. (Photo: AFP)

HANOI, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam has reported its first case of a more contagious COVID-19 variant first discovered in Britain, the country's Ministry of Health confirmed Saturday.

The case is a 45-year-old Vietnamese woman, who travelled from Britain to Vietnam on Dec. 22 and was quarantined upon arrival, the ministry said.

She started feeling ill a few days after arriving in Vietnam before testing positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 24, and was later confirmed to have tested positive with the new COVID-19 variant. She is now under treatment in southern Vietnam's Tra Vinh province, according to the ministry.

In a recent meeting, the country's national steering committee on COVID-19 prevention and control asked relevant authorities to urgently take testing samples of recently confirmed COVID-19 patients to identify whether the new coronavirus variant has appeared in Vietnam.

As of Saturday morning, the country reported a total of 1,474 cases of COVID-19 infection with 35 deaths from the disease so far, according to the ministry.