The World Health Organisation (WHO) assesses a new variant of Covid-19 that has been initially found in South Africa. A number of countries in Europe and Asia have announced banning flights from the southern part of Africa as a precaution, British news portal The Guardian reports.
The WHO meets on Friday, November 26, determine if the B.1.1.529 variant should be designated a variant of «interest” or of «concern».
On Thursday, November 25, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical expert on Covid-19, noted in a press briefing: «We don’t know very much about this [variant] yet. What we do know is that this variant has a large number of mutations. And the concern is that when you have so many mutations, it can have an impact on how the virus behaves.»
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The infectious disease epidemiologist explained that researchers would meet to «understand where these mutations are and what this potentially may mean» in terms of whether it is more transmissible or has potential to evade immunity.
Reacting to the news, a number of countries in Europe and Asia have announced bans on flights from the southern part of Africa – South Africa and its neighbours. In Europe, Italy and England have announced a similar entry ban as a precaution, The Guardian reports.
WHO assesses virus’ South African variant, countries ban fights as precaution
