Since it was first detected in the United Kingdom last month, a mutant coronavirus named B.1.1.7 has spread to as many as 30 countries. Experts have warned that the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variant raises fears that global transmission is inevitable. It has spread as far as the US in the west to Vietnam in the east, which reported an infectious case on January 2nd.
According to the health authorities in Vietnam, which became the most recently added to the list, the disease was reported in a woman who had returned from Britain. After that, the country has banned almost all international air travel but is returning flights to missing citizens in the UK. In the Middle East, Turkey, on 1 January, reported 15 cases of the COVID-19 variant despite the ban on flying from the UK in December.
Earlier, Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said a new variant identified in the UK was found in two cases in the Amsterdam area. In addition to the Netherlands, the UK variant of the virus is found in other countries including France and Italy. Australia and China have also reported issues.
The British mutant virus has been found all over the Atlantic. Canada, on December 26, has reported two cases in Ontario with Health Canada warning of a rapid nationwide outbreak. Meanwhile, one person in the American state of Colorado and another in Florida were found to have the mutant strain.
India is successfully spreading the mutant virus
Meanwhile, the Medical Research Council of India (ICMR) announced on January 2, that their laboratory is based in Pune – National Institute of Virology (NIV) has been separated and cultivated UK snoring of Coronavirus (COVID-19) from the UK arrives. Claiming that India is the first to identify the UK strain of COVID-19 variants, ICMR said vero cell lines have been used by ICMR scientists to culture the virus differs in its UK culture. To date, 29 people have tested positive for the UK’s new COVID-19 snort.
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About the new virus strain
The new version of the new coronavirus has been released for rapid spread across the UK. Even though it is known that viruses circulate all the time and some even die, it is a very rare event when the new strains trigger dramatic changes. However, with more than 1,000 cases of the variant found in the UK, scientists are puzzled to see if the variant, reported as VUI-202012/01, falls into that category or does it represent a greater health risk especially when some countries began administering the COVID-19 Vaccines to humans.
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Image: NIH