Amid the coronavirus scare, another shocking development has come to surface with a 33 year old man becoming the first confirmed case of South African COVID-19 variant in New Delhi.

The patient has been admitted at the LNJP hospital in the national capital. He was initially asymptomatic, was in isolation, but was brought to the hospital last week where he tested positive for the COVID variant.

The Centre government said India has reported four cases of the South African variant of SARS-CoV-2 and one case of the Brazil variant a month ago.

According to ICMR director Dr. Balram Bhargava, the South African strain was detected in four people who returned from abroad-one from Angola, one from Tanzania and two from South Africa in January. Dr. Bhargava also mentioned that all travellers and contacts had been tested and quarantined.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), South African and Brazilian variants do have the potential to reinfect people who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 earlier.