London, England.
The British Minister of Health, Matt Hancock, Announced on Wednesday that a second variant of the coronavirus “even more contagious” that the cep which was reported last week.
This version of the SARS-CoV-2, linked to people who have traveled to United Kingdom from South Africa, is “very worrying” and appears to contain more mutations than the one that has begun to spread rapidly in the south of England.
Before the appearance of this strain, the British Government iwill impose “immediate” restrictions on travel to South Africa i strict quarantines to people who have returned from this country in the last two weeks.
Two new strains of virus
So far, the United Kingdom has identified two cases of this new strain in their territory, both in individuals close to people who had traveled in recent weeks.
“We are incredibly grateful to Government of South Africa for its scientific rigor and for the openness and transparency with which they acted when the new variant was discovered here, “Hancock said at a news conference.
The minister announced at the same time as more England intrarán in the coming days at the highest level of pandemic restrictions, before the expansion in the last days of the cep which was reported last week, which is apparently being transmitted at a higher speed than the virus versions known so far.
Following the detection of this variant, More than fifty countries have limited travel since the United Kingdom.
According to the latest official figures, the contagion in British territory have increased by 61.2% in the last seven days, compared to the previous seven.
en England, There are already 17,709 admitted with covid, Getting closer to the 18,974 hospitalized who were reached at the peak of the first wave of the pandemic, Last April 12th.
see: Europe reopens its doors in the UK while WHO studies new strain
“These Christmas and the start of 2021 will be a hard period. The new variant makes everything much harder because it is propagate a lot faster. But we don’t have to give up, we know we can control this virus“, Said the Minister of Health.
Hancock further informed that the British regulator has already received the necessary information to review the approval of the vaccine developed by the Oxford University and pharmaceuticals AstraZeneca.
“The vaccine it is our way out of all this. Despite how hard they will be Christmas and the winter, we know that the transformative power of science is helping us find one way“, He said. EFE