France has detected its first case of the South African variant of coronavirus, the health ministry said on Thursday.

As per the South African authorities, the 501.V2 Variant was first detected in mid of December. Since then, cases have been found in Japan and Britain among others.

It is believed that the new variant can be more easily transmitted like another version found in Britain.

In France, the new virus was found in a man who had returned from South Africa to his home in Haut-Rhin region near Switzerland border.

South Africa is the country hit hardest by coronavirus on the African continent, with over one million infections so far and 26,000 people dead.