The covid-19 virus mutation detected in South Africa is "even more contagious" than the one in London
The new variant has reached UK soil, and flight connections with the african country are restricted
BarcelonaThe new covid-19 variant detected a few days ago in South Africa is "even more contagious" than the one found in south-east England. This was stated by the British Health Minister, Matt Hancock, in an appearance on Wednesday, in which he revealed that two cases of this second mutation have been identified in the United Kingdom as well. "The two are contacts of cases that have travelled to South Africa during the last few weeks", he said.
As a result of this situation, the minister announced the "immediate" suspension of flights from South Africa and imposed a quarantine on everyone who has arrived from this country during the last two weeks and on all their close contacts. "The measures are temporary while we investigate this new strain further", he said. The UK joins countries such as Switzerland, Turkey, Israel and Mauritius, which in recent days had already restricted flight arrivals from South Africa following the discovery of the new mutation.
According to the minister, the South African variant is "very worrying" and "seems to have mutated more" than the one initially detected in the United Kingdom, which, according to the first indications, is 70% more contagious than the original virus. The identification of this mutation has led to more than 50 countries imposing restrictions on the arrival of flights from the UK and France closing the Channel border for two days. Although the passage has now been opened (with conditions), the chaos on the British side continues.
"The new UK variant is very different from South Africa, it has different mutations", epidemiologist Susan Hopkins said, a member of the British government's advisory team against covid-19. "Both seem more contagious", she added. However, Hopkins believes that the spread of the South African variant in the UK can be controlled and has insisted that the vaccines developed so far should be effective against both mutations: "We have no evidence so far that the vaccine will not work, which means that we have important indications that it will work, because the vaccine produces a strong immune response and acts against many variations of the virus".
Infection record
Just this Wednesday, the United Kingdom announced that, for the second day in a row, the number of new infections has reached its peak since the beginning of the pandemic: in the last 24 hours, 39,237 people have been diagnosed with covid-19 in the country. In addition, 744 deaths have been recorded, the highest number since April. According to the Health Ministry, the majority of new cases detected during the last weeks correspond to the new strain, while those of the original virus are declining. This could indicate that the new variant of the virus is indeed more contagious, although experts warn that there may be other reasons for this predominance of the new mutation.
