Singapore confirms first case of new coronavirus variant

Singapore has confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus variant found in the United Kingdom.

The city-state said 11 people who were already in quarantine had returned preliminary positive results for the new strain.

The strain was found among 31 cases from Europe, who arrived in Singapore between November 17 and December 17 and were confirmed to have COVID-19 this month.

Report says all the cases, which were imported from Europe, had been placed in 14-day quarantine and their close contacts had been quarantined earlier.

The health ministry said it had been able to ring-fence the case so that there was no further transmission as confirmatory results were pending for the other 11 cases.