Coronavirus New Variant in UK; WHO Supports Travel Restriction
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23 December 2020 13:02 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The World Health Organization (WHO) will hold a meeting with member states on Wednesday, December 23, 2020. The meeting will specifically discuss strategies against the new variant of the coronavirus found in the UK, known to be more contagious.
A WHO spokesman said the meeting was designed to help share information. The WHO has warned against great concern over the variant, praising Britain for detecting it.
"But it is a normal part of a pandemic's evolution," WHO said as quoted by Reuters, Tuesday, December 22.
On Saturday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the new variant is 70 percent more contagious than other variants known to exist. Recent studies have also found that the variant is potentially more contagious among children.
WHO Regional Director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said via his personal Twitter account that limiting travel to contain the spread is "prudent until we have better info".
Since the UK announced the spread of the new virus variant on December 14, more nations have imposed flight bans from the UK. The new variant, the SARS-CoV-2 strain B117, is known to contain multiple mutations, including the N501Y, which was identified through genomic sequencing of virus samples across the UK.
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REUTERS | GLOBAL NEWS
