Photo/Illutration Fukuoka Governor Seitaro Hattori on Dec. 25 announces the first confirmed case of the Omicron variant in the prefecture and the Kyushu region. (Jun Kaneko)

Community-based infections of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus have now spread to five prefectures following an outbreak reported Dec. 26 in Aichi.

The other prefectures are Fukuoka in Kyushu, southern Japan, which reported its first confirmed case on Dec. 25, and Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto.

Aichi prefectural authorities announced that two individuals had been confirmed with the Omicron variant, the first such cases in the prefecture.

The patients, a teenage girl and a woman in her 40s, are believed to have contracted the new variant through community infection as they had not traveled overseas recently, officials said.

They are both being treated in hospitals and their symptoms are mild, authorities said.

The Fukuoka case involved a man in his 20s who had no history of having traveled overseas recently and whose route of transmission remained unclear, Fukuoka Governor Seitaro Hattori said.

He added that health authorities have not ascertained if the man was in close contact with others infected with Omicron.

The patient developed a high fever and coughing fits, prompting him to visit a hospital in Fukuoka Prefecture on Dec. 22. His infection with the new strain was confirmed after genome sequencing.

He remains hospitalized with mild symptoms, according to prefectural officials who said he visited Osaka, Kyoto and Okayama from Dec. 18 to Dec. 20 and made the trip by Shinkansen bullet train.

Additional cases of the Omicron variant were confirmed in Osaka and Kyoto prefectures on Dec. 25.

The two patients in Osaka Prefecture were both males in their 20s. One of them is a student and the other works in the hospitality industry.

Neither man had traveled overseas in recent months, nor were they in close contact with others with the strain, authorities said.

Prefectural officials believe the new cases indicate a community-based infection.

Kyoto Prefecture reported four new patients ranging in age from their 40s to 70s with Omicron.

Of the four, two are believed to have contracted the variant via community infection as they had not traveled abroad nor had close contact with other infected individuals.

The other two patients apparently caught the virus from individuals infected with Omicron as one of them was warned of having been in close contact and the remaining individual worked in the same office.

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