The variant was detected in a 44-year-old woman returning to Vietnam from Britain, who was quarantined upon arrival and was confirmed positive for the virus on December 24, the Ministry said in a statement.

“Researchers ran gene-sequencing on the patient’s sample and found the strain is a variant known as ‘VOC 202012/01’,” it said.

The variant includes a genetic mutation that, in theory, could result in the virus spreading more easily between people.