Photo/Illutration Quarantine officials ask passengers about their travel history at Narita Airport on Nov. 30. (Tatsuya Shimada)

Airport quarantine checks have revealed four new cases of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus, the health ministry announced on Dec. 13.

That brings the total number of cases of the variant reported in Japan to 17.

The roughly 350 people who have come into close contact with the four patients will be notified through a dedicated app or by other means, officials said. Local municipalities will ask them to self-isolate at accommodation facilities.

The four patients are three men and a woman in their 20s to 40s, according to the ministry. It did not disclose their nationalities.

One patient stayed in Nigeria, while another visited Kenya. The remaining two returned from the United States. They landed separately at Narita, Kansai and Haneda airports between Dec. 6 and 9.

Three of them tested positive for the virus upon entry. The other was confirmed infected through testing on the third day of quarantine at a designated facility.

They are all now isolated at medical institutions and other facilities.

Three of the four had received two shots of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, according to the ministry.

The Omicron variant infections were confirmed through genome sequencing, the ministry said.

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