The UK has banned travelers from six African countries due to the new variant

The United Kingdom announced on Thursday, November 25 that it would ban travelers from six African countries, following South Africa’s announcement that it had discovered a new variant of the Covit-19 with multiple mutations.

Health Secretary Sajid Javed said all flights from South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana would be grounded from noon on Friday (13 hours in Paris).

“The first signs of this variant may be more contagious than the delta variant and the vaccines we currently have may be less effective.”, Mr. Javed added.

According to him, British scientists “Very worried” With this variation, the reason for the recent increase in cases registered in South Africa and also found in travelers coming from Botswana or Hong Kong. However, no case has been registered in Great Britain.

“Anyone coming from these countries will be asked to stay in hotels from 4am on Sunday (GMT)”, Mr. Javed said those who come before this date should isolate themselves and undergo two PCR tests on the second and eighth day of their imprisonment. “If anyone comes from these countries in the last ten days, we will ask them to do a PCR test.”, He added.

More contagious

This new variant of Govit-19, found in South Africa, is named P.1.1.529, which contains a number. “Very high” Mutations and “We can see that it has the potential to spread very fast.”, South African virologist Tulio de Oliveira told an online news conference. His team at the KRISP Research Institute, with the support of KwaZulu-Natal University, discovered the beta variant last year, which is highly contagious.

The mutations in the early virus will make it more contagious until the new variant dominates: this is the level of the delta variant that was first discovered in India, and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) it has reduced the effectiveness of resistance. – Govt-19 vaccines against the spread of the disease up to 40%.

At this point, South African scientists are not sure about the effectiveness of existing vaccines against the new form of the virus. “What worries us is that this variant not only has increased transmission capacity, but can also cross certain parts of our immune system.”Another researcher, Professor Richard Lessels said.

22 cases in South Africa

To date, 22 cases have been reported in the country, mostly affecting young people, according to the National Institute for Infectious Diseases (NICD). Cases have also been registered in neighboring Botswana and Hong Kong against a man who returned from a trip to South Africa. Who said “Strictly follow” Meet on Friday to determine this new variant and its risk.

With 144,000 deaths since the outbreak, Britain is one of the countries hardest hit by Govt-19. The number of cases is high – more than 47,000 in the last 24 hours on Thursday – but more than 80% of those aged 12 and over have received a double dose of the vaccine, with nearly 30% receiving a third dose.

The UK government has come under heavy criticism for delaying the tightening of travel restrictions at the onset of the epidemic, which has opened its borders as infection rates have risen.