New Coronavirus Variant Spreading; WHO: Situation Not Out of Control

The World Health Organization, amid growing concerns about the spread of a new coronavirus variant in Britain, announced on Monday, December 21, that the virus can still be controlled.

Mike Ryan, director of emergency response at the World Health Organization, said at a press conference held in Geneva, Switzerland: “The situation is not out of control, but at the same time, we cannot leave it to its own devices.”

He then called on countries around the world to implement proven health measures to contain the virus.

Based on World Health Organization estimates, people infected with the new type of coronavirus transmit it to an average of 1.5 people, whereas this rate was 1.1 people for the previous coronavirus variant.

However, many virologists believe that COVID-19 vaccines are also effective against the new coronavirus variant.

Uğur Şahin, head of the German company BioNTech, which developed the coronavirus vaccine with American company Pfizer, told the German news agency that the company has tested its vaccine against 20 other types of coronavirus, with successful results.

He added that the new virus variant has a more powerful mutation, and vaccine testing against it will be completed within two weeks.

According to the World Health Organization, so far no evidence has been found that the new coronavirus variant is more severe or deadly than the previous variant. However, European countries and some other countries in the world, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Israel, Argentina, Hong Kong, and Canada, have banned flights from Britain.

Source: Radio Farda