Germany reported its first case of the new COVID-19 variant on Thursday in a woman who flew in from Britain, local health authorities said.
“This is the first known case in Germany,” health ministry of the southwestern German state of Baden-Wurttemberg said Thursday.
The patient arrived via Frankfurt airport on Dec. 20 and tested positive upon arrival. Further virus sequencing of the sample at the National Coronavirus Consulting Laboratory in Berlin showed it was a case of variant B.1.1.7.
The infected person, who has since developed mild symptoms, was picked up by her relatives and kept in quarantine since then.
Her three close contacts have also been quarantined and so far showed no symptoms.
The patient’s trip took place before Germany announced a ban on flights from Britain since 00:00 on Dec. 21 until the end of this year.
Germany reported 25,533 new COVID-19 cases and 412 related deaths in the past 24 hours, according to data from its disease control agency Robert Koch Institute on Friday.
The country has now registered 1,612,648 total confirmed coronavirus cases and 29,182 deaths from the disease.
