Mexico City, Jan. 23, (dpa/GNA) – Cuba and Panama have both identified their first cases of the coronavirus variant that emerged in South Africa, the health authorities in both countries announced on Friday.
In Panama, a 40-year-old man from Botswana who had come from South Africa was found to be infected with the variant.
He had been isolated since entering the country on January 5 – first in a hotel, then in a hospital after testing positive last Sunday.
In Cuba, a traveller who had been in South Africa and was discovered to be infected with the mutation though he had no symptoms of Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Those he came into contact with have tested negative, health authorities said. However, it was not ruled out that the virus in its mutated form was already circulating on the Caribbean island.
South Africa reported the new strain of the virus late last year. It is said to resemble a mutation that emerged in Britain, but has evolved independently.
GNA