A man enters the headquarters of the World Health Organization on June 15, 2021.
A new variant of Covid-19 will be discussed by the World Health Organization.
The variant has been found in small numbers in South Africa. The variant contains more than 30 changes to the spike protein, the component of the virus that bind to cells, according to a South African scientist.
The delta variant spread like wildfire earlier this year and became the dominant strain worldwide. Health officials have said that many of these genes are linked to increased resistance to the vaccine and may affect how the virus behaves with regards to vaccines, treatments and transmissibility.
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's technical lead on Covid-19, said in a livestreamed Q&A that scientists don't know much about this yet and that it would take a few weeks to get a full picture of how the variant reacts to existing
The U.K. banned flights from South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, Eswatini and Zimbabwe from noon on Friday to 4 a.m. on Sunday.
The variant is being investigated by the U.K. Health Security Agency. There are no cases yet in the U.K.
The first genomes of the new variant were uploaded to the international database on November 22, but the extent of the spread is not yet known.
The most populated region in South Africa, the province of Gauteng, has been the location of the most cases so far.
The South African rand plummeted to more than 16.2 against the dollar as investors rushed for cover.
As cases of Covid-19 surge around the world heading into the winter months, multiple countries in Europe in particular are seeing record spikes, and implementing strict containment measures.
