Britain’s health secretary warned on Monday that the coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa is a “very significant problem” and poses a greater risk than others. Matt Hancock told BBC radio that he is “extremely concerned” about the new variant while others question whether the currently approved vaccines would be effective against it.
“I am extremely concerned about the South African variant,” Hancock told BBC Radio 4’s Today. “That is why we have taken the steps we have taken to restrict all flights from South Africa, and the movement from South Africa, and to insist that anyone who has been in South Africa to isolate himself. significant. “
South African researchers are already working to determine whether vaccines developed to combat COVID-19 will have the same success against the new variant, identified as 501.V2.
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“This is the most pressing issue we face now,” said Dr. Richard Lessells, an infectious disease specialist who is working on genomic studies of the variant in the country, to the Associated Press. “We are running experiments in the laboratory urgently to test the variant.”
The tests, called neutralizing assays, will test the variant against the blood of people with antibodies and against the blood of people who have already received vaccines, the Associated Press reported.
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The variant has already been described as more infectious than the COVID-19 virus identified at the beginning of the pandemic. On Monday, Austria announced that it had discovered a case of the South African mutation in a 30-year-old woman who returned from a trip on December 6.
The country also said it had detected four cases of the UK variant, which was also detected in the United States.
Britain is expected to further expand blocking measures in an attempt to stem the spread of the new variant, which was discovered several weeks ago. The UK variant is believed to be the driving force for a new wave of coronavirus cases across the country.
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“The spread of the new variant of COVID-19 has led to a rapid escalation in the number of cases across the country,” said a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, according to Reuters. “The Prime Minister is clear that new measures must be taken now to stop this increase and to protect the NHS and save lives. He will define that tonight.”
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.