Singapore has confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus variant found in the United Kingdom, Reuters quoted the city-state as saying, while 11 others who were already in quarantine had returned preliminarily positive results for the new strain. All the cases, which were imported from Europe, had been placed in 14-day quarantine at dedicated facilities or isolated upon arrival, and their close contacts had been quarantined earlier. "There is currently no evidence that the B117 strain is circulating in the community," Singapore's health ministry said late on Wednesday, referring to the new, potentially more infectious UK strain. The strain was found among 31 cases from Europe, who arrived in Singapore between Nov. 17 and Dec. 17 and were confirmed to have COVID-19 this month. The patient with the new variant came to Singapore from the UK on 6th December, had been quarantined on arrival, and tested positive on 8th December. All her close contacts had been placed on quarantine and had tested negative at the end of their quarantine period. Confirmatory results were pending for the other 11 cases. Singapore has blocked visitors with recent travel history to the United Kingdom to prevent the new strain from spreading in the city-state that has reported almost zero new local infections daily, said the Reuters report. — WAM
