Japan's Health Ministry said on Sunday that a new coronavirus variant was detected in four travelers from Brazil.

The ministry said that the four passengers, who landed at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on January 2 from the state of Amazonas in Brazil, were found to be infected with a new variant.  

The ministry said the new strain was different from the ones found in Britain and South Africa that have driven a surge in cases. 

According to NHK, Japan reported six-thousand-76 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the largest number for a Sunday.
 
Japan, which recently declared a state of emergency for the greater Tokyo region, is reportedly considering expanding the move to other prefectures of Osaka, Hyogo and Kyoto where infections continue to rise.