A man enters the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on June 15, 2021.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images
The World Health Organization will meet on Friday to discuss a new highly mutated variant of Covid-19.
The variant known as B.1.1.529 has been found in small numbers in South Africa, WHO officials said. South African scientist Tulio de Oliveira said in a media briefing from the South African Ministry of Health on Thursday that the variant contains more than 30 mutations in the spike protein, the component of the virus that binds to cells.
This is significantly more than the Delta variant, which spread like wildfire at the beginning of the year and became the world’s dominant variety. Many of these mutations are linked to increased antibody resistance, which can reduce vaccine effectiveness and affect the virus’ behavior regarding vaccines, treatments, and communicability, health officials said.
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical director on Covid-19, said in a livestream question and answer that scientists “don’t know very much about it yet” and that it would take a few weeks to get a full picture of it like that Variant reacts to existing vaccines.
Great Britain immediately decided to ban flights from South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, Eswatini and Zimbabwe from Friday noon to Sunday 4 a.m. local time.
The British health authority is investigating the variant, which, according to Minister of Health Sajid Javid, is “possibly worrying”. No cases have yet been identified in the UK
The first genomes of the new variant were uploaded to the international GISAID database on November 22nd, but genomes from South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong have now been uploaded, the extent of which is not yet known.
The cases so far have been concentrated in Gauteng, South Africa’s most populous region and home to nearly 16 million people, South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla said during Thursday’s briefing.
The South African rand tumbled above 16.2 against the dollar on Friday morning as investors sought cover.
The new development comes with the worldwide increase in Covid-19 cases in the winter months, with several countries in Europe in particular recording record peaks and implementing strict containment measures.
