The new COVID-19 variant detected in South Africa poses an even greater risk than the highly contagious strain that showed up in British patients, the British health secretary said Monday.
Minister Matt Hancock called the South African variant a “very big problem” in a Monday interview on BBC radio.
“I am incredibly concerned about the South African variant, which is why we have taken the action we have taken to restrict all flights from South Africa,” he said of the program. “This is a very, very big problem … and it’s even a bigger problem than the new variant in the UK.”
Hancock told ITV News that the species found in South Africa “seems even easier to transmit than the new variety we’ve seen here. [in the UK]. “
Only two cases of the South African variant have been documented in the UK, but officials are hoping to keep a grip on them as 55,000 new cases of coronavirus have been reported in the country on Sunday, according to the report.
“We have to keep an eye on this one because it’s even harder to handle than the British variant,” he said.
Hancock’s concern stems from fears that vaccines will not be as effective against the South African variety as those in the UK, ITV political editor Robert Peston tweeted, citing one of the government’s scientific advisers.
Sir John Bell, a scientist at the University of Oxford, told Times Radio Sunday that more research is needed, and “there is a big question mark” as to whether the vaccines will work on the new strain known as 501.V2.
But Bell added that he doubts the vaccines would become completely ineffective against the variant.
With pole wires