The new most contagious strain of COVID-19 that has emerged in the UK does not appear to be more deadly, Dr Vivek Murthy, a candidate for general surgeon, said on Sunday.
“This news from the UK seems to be about a new strain of the most transmissible virus, more contagious than the virus we’ve seen before,” Murthy told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
“While it appears to be more transmissible, we still have no evidence that it is a more deadly virus for a person who acquires it.”
The former general surgeon, who has been approved by President-elect Joe Biden to return to the post, added that the new strain does not hinder the vaccine.
“There is no reason to believe that the vaccines that have been developed are not effective against this virus,” Murthy said.
The new strain spread rapidly across the south-east of England, accounting for more than 60 per cent of new infections in London.
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, who is the technical head of COVID-19 at the World Health Organization, said Sunday that the new strain has also made its way across borders.
“We understand that this variant has also been identified in Denmark, in the Netherlands and that there was a case in Australia and it did not spread further,” Van Kerkhove told the BBC on Sunday.
He said it is worrying that the new strain “is spreading and having so many mutations.”
“The longer this virus spreads, the more opportunities it has to change. So we really have to do everything we can right now to prevent the spread, ”he said.
Some regions of the south-east of England have been placed under tighter enclosures and the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy have banned flights from the UK.