AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
Summary
- Britain’s health minister warns the new South African coronavirus strain is more transmissible than the one found in the UK.
- The new COVID-19 variant was first found in October 2020 in the Nelson Mandela Bay region.
- Research is ongoing to determine the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against new coronavirus variants.
New coronavirus mutation identified in South Africa is considered more infectious than the strain found in the UK.
Experts say that there is no need to panic, even though the British Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, is very concerned about the latest variant of SARS-CoV-2, that has emerged in South Africa. He also mentioned that this variant is highly transmissible as compared to the variant first found in Kent.
©Kalkine Group 2020
UK officials are concerned that the COVID-19 vaccines might not be effective against the new coronavirus mutant detected in South Africa.
New South African Strain more infectious
Changes to the genetic alterations of the viruses are not new. There are many other strains of COVID-19; some are more contagious and some more deadly. For example, the newly UK variant is considered substantially more contagious but not fatal.
The new South African COVID-19 variant was first discovered in October 2020 in the Nelson Mandela Bay region in South Africa. Some research suggests that it could have been in circulation from the end of August 2020.
According to some media reports, the new strain detected in South Africa has also been found in Australia, Finland, Japan, Switzerland, and the UK.
DO READ: WHO calls for a meeting to discuss new coronavirus variant and its spread
Vaccine Effectiveness against new COVID-19 variants
The concerns have been rising for the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against the new emerging variants. Several scientists anticipate that the COVID-19 vaccine from the Oxford University-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech could be effective to protect individuals against the new virus strains.
While both South African and the UK strains have mutations on all the important receptor binding domains (RBD) that permits the virus to enter into that human cells.
Officials are worried vaccines will be effective against the new strains or not. (Image source: Shutterstock)
Moreover, several research institutions and laboratories in South Africa and the UK are currently undertaking research for determination of whether the existing COVID-19 vaccines will be effective against new coronavirus variants.
With the new strain already circulating in several nations, it is still unclear whether the restriction in travel will be sufficient to prevent the spread. Moreover, similar travel restrictions from the UK were declared on the news of a new, more contagious variant was discovered in the UK. But so far, many nations have reported the presence of the UK mutant in their countries.
ALSO READ: Is the UK finding hard to revive from the hard blow of COVID-19’s new variant?
