New COVID variant continues global spread

In Europe, more cases of the new Covid variant have been found.Spain is the latest European country to confirm four cases of the more contagious coronavirus variant.Madrid deputy health chief Antonio Zapatero said, the infections - all in Madrid - were linked to recent UK travel. The report from Spain came just hours after France confirmed its first patient known to have the new variant.The variant has also been detected in France, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. Other countries have also reported cases of the new variant. Japan on Friday confirmed five infections in passengers who had all arrived from the UK, while cases in Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Australia were reported earlier.

In Canada, Ontario's Chief Medical Officer announced Saturday that they had confirmed two cases, the first detection of the variant in North America. The patient, a couple, had no known travel history, meaning it was likely a case of community spread. While the United States has not yet reported a case, experts say it is probably due to the nation's very low rate of genetic sequencing of the virus to check for such changes, despite Americans leading the world in coronavirus infections and death