Fauci: the mutant strain of coronavirus should be taken “very seriously”

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Anthony FauciAnthony FauciTSA examined 1.1 million travelers the day after Christmas in Saudi Arabia to allow international flights departing for foreign nationals December the deadliest month of pandemic COVID-19 MORE, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, said on Sunday that people should take “very seriously” the most contagious strain of coronavirus that has emerged in the south-east of England.

Fauci, who has discouraged the direct ban on flights from the UK, said in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” that U.S. officials were right to demand negative coronavirus testing for anyone who entered the country from Britain.

Public health officials are examining the new strain “very intensely now,” including questions such as, “Does it make anyone sicker? Is it a more serious virus in the sense of virulence? And the answer is that it doesn’t seem to be.”

Fauci added that while his British counterparts have expressed confidence that existing vaccines will be equally effective against the new strain, “we will do the studies ourselves,” according to the AP.

“We get isolation, we combine viruses, to be able to test them directly, we get sera from vaccinated people and we check if it still neutralizes this new strain, this mutant strain that comes from the UK, as well as South Africa,” he added. . “There’s a similar type of mutation, but not quite, that we’re seeing in South Africa.”

Fauci declined to answer if it was a mistake not to require negative evidence from British travelers before, he told CNN’s Dana BashLawmakers urge Trump to sign stimulus funding package as government shutdown ends Republican lawmaker calls Trump’s election fraud allegations a “scam” MORE, “Viouslybviament, I think the step to establish some form of travel restriction – and the restriction could be completely blocking travel, which made the decision not to do so.”

“But I think it’s prudent and a good idea to do some kind of test and not let anyone on the plane come from the UK unless they have a documented negative COVID-19 test,” he added.

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