The first case of the Indian variant of coronavirus has been identified in Slovenia in a sample taken on 20 April, Slovenian media reported on Wednesday.

Slovenia’s STA agency carried the information that was reported on the GISAID portal, saying that the mutation was confirmed at the Ljubljana Faculty of Medicine Institute for Microbiology and Immunology.

Laboratories which do genome sequencing of the novel coronavirus, including the laboratory at the Ljubljana Institute for Microbiology and Immunology, first enter data on the new variants detected into the GISAID portal. This is a global initiative and primary source that provides open access to genomic data for the novel coronavirus, STA said.

The institute’s director, Miroslav Petrovec, has not confirmed the information to the public yet and he is expected to do so at a news conference on Thursday at which he will present information about the presence of new variants. For the time being the most widespread is the British variant.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently reported that the Indian variant of the novel coronavirus is more contagious, which gives rise to additional concern if it were to spread around the world.