South African researchers see “cause for concern” with a new corona variant. It is spreading faster than Delta and may be more immune to vaccines. The WHO advises in a special meeting. –
The discovery of a new Corona variant in South Africa is causing international unrest. The World Health Organization (WHO) is expected to discuss B.1.1.529 in a special session on Friday. The British government announced on Thursday evening a temporary suspension of travel to six African countries. Health Minister Sajid Javid said that all flights to Great Britain from South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana would be canceled from Friday noon.
There is evidence that the variant “may be more transmissible than the Delta variant and that vaccines (…) may be less effective,” said Javid. So far, the variant has not been proven in Great Britain, he added. British scientists, however, have expressed “very worried” about the development.
Travelers who arrive in Great Britain from one of the affected African countries by Friday would have to go into quarantine and do a PCR test on the second and eighth day. Javid also called on all travelers who had come from these countries in the past ten days to isolate and get tested.
WHO observes variant “exactly”
The WHO said it was watching the variant “closely”. During their deliberations on Friday, experts from the organization are expected to decide whether B.1.1.529 is to be classified as a variant “of interest” or as “a matter of concern”. It is also likely to be renamed to a letter of the Greek alphabet, as has been the case until now. “Early analyzes show that this variant has a high number of mutations that will require further studies,” said the WHO.
South African scientists had previously announced that the new variant with the scientific name B.1.1.529 was “cause for concern”. In the meantime, the variant has also been detected in Botswana and Hong Kong among travelers from South Africa.
South Africa’s Minister of Health, Joe Phaahla, described the variant as “seriously worrying” and as the cause of an “exponential” increase in reported cases in his country. The effectiveness of the vaccine against this virus variant is therefore still unclear.
Low vaccination rate in South Africa
The number of new corona infections reported daily in South Africa has recently risen dramatically. On Wednesday, the authorities reported 1200 new infections within 24 hours. At the beginning of November this value was still 106 cases. In South Africa, 35 percent of adults are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

According to the government’s national institute for communicable diseases (NICD), 22 cases of infection with the new corona variant have so far been detected in South Africa. In the province of Gauteng with the economic metropolis of Johannesburg, a rapid increase in the number of new infections overall and the positive rate can be observed, the NICD explained.
The beta variant of the virus was discovered in South Africa last year. With around 2.95 million corona cases and more than 89,600 deaths, South Africa is the hardest hit country in Africa according to official figures.
Source From: Stern