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

The 501.V2 Variant was detected by South African authorities in mid December.

Cases have since been found in Japan and Britain among others. The variant, believed to be more easily transmitted like another version found in Britain, was discovered in France in a man who had returned from South Africa to his home in the Haut-Rhin region which borders Switzerland. 

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