All of the Saitama cases are thought to be related, as the three people are believed to have visited the same workplace where they came into contact with another person infected with the British coronavirus strain.

According to Nikkei, the health ministry does not exclude the emergence of the first cluster of the UK coronavirus variant in Japan.

In total, 64 cases of this particular strain have been confirmed in Japan.

Earlier this month, Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) announced that it had found a new strain of the coronavirus among four individuals arriving from Brazil. The new strain showed similarities to the variant detected in the UK and South Africa but there is currently no evidence that it is more transmissible or likelier to cause serious symptoms.

Japan has registered over 387,000 coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University data, including more than 5,600 deaths. The second wave of COVID-19 in the country is reported to have put national hospitals under severe strain.