Scientists in South Africa announced that they have detected a new variant of COVID-19. They noted that this variant has a large number of mutations, increasing the number of infections. The number of daily cases in South Africa, which was most affected by the pandemic on the African continent, has increased 10 times since the beginning of the month.
“Unfortunately, we have identified a new variant in South Africa that is a cause for concern,” virologist Tulio de Oliveira said in an emergency press conference. Here are the details of the new coronavirus mutation…
New COVID-19 variant doubles the number of cases
Scientists announced that the scientific name of the variant in question is B. 1.529. They stressed that this variant “has a very high number of mutations.” Tulio de Oliveira said, “Unfortunately, it is causing a resurgence of infections. ” said.
According to the researcher talking about the new COVID-19 variant, the World Health Organization may give the variant a Greek name today. This variant has also been detected in people from South Africa in Botswana and Hong Kong. WHO also announced that it is “closely monitoring” the variant in question. In addition, WHO will decide today in which category the variant should be listed.
“Initial analyzes show that this variant requires further study and has a large number of mutations,” WHO explained. However, South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla spoke on the matter. He stated that the variant is a cause of “serious concern” and that cases have increased exponentially recently. He added that the reason behind this increase is the new variant.
The daily number of infections in South Africa rose from 106 earlier in the month to 1,200 on Wednesday. The state-owned National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NICD) said that after genomic sequencing, the B. 1. 1,529 variant was detected in 22 positive cases in the country. Meanwhile, they suggested that the variant is more common among young people.
Worrying findings: The new variant has 10 mutations!
Scientists announced their important findings about the new COVID-19 variant. They detected at least 10 mutations in this variant, although delta carried two mutations and beta three. “It will take a few weeks before we understand what impact this variant has on any potential vaccine,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, said at a virtual press conference. ” said.
(Photo: Antonio Masiello)
Penny Moore, a South African scientist, said neutralizing the variant is “complicated because of the number of mutations this variant contains.” He continued, “This variant carries many mutations that we are not familiar with. ” said.
The European Union made a statement today. Accordingly, in order to avoid the new variant, the union reported that they suspended their flights to South Africa. It is only a matter of time before this proposal comes into effect. Likewise, the UK has suspended flights to South Africa (and five more) due to the new COVID-19 variant.
Israel has identified a person carrying the new COVID-19 variant
The Israeli Ministry of Health made an important statement today. Accordingly, Israel announced that they detected the new variant in a person in their country.
In the statement, they stated that the new variant was found in a person who returned from Malawi. They also added that they quarantined two people returning from abroad.
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