British Health Minister Matt Hancock announced this on Wednesday A second variant of the coronavirus has been discovered “even more contagious” than the reported strain last week.
This version of SARS-CoV-2, linked to people who have traveled to the UK from South Africa, is “of great concern” and appears to contain more mutations than the one that quickly begins to spread in southern England.
With the emergence of this species, the UK government will impose “immediate” restrictions on travel to South Africa and impose strict quarantines on people who have returned from that country in the past two weeks.
The UK has so far identified two cases of the new strain in its territory, both in individuals close to those who have traveled in recent weeks.
“We are incredibly grateful to the government of South Africa for their scientific rigor and for the openness and transparency with which they acted when the new variant was discovered here,” Hancock said at a news conference.
The minister announced this simultaneously more parts of England will undergo maximum levels of restrictions against the pandemic in the coming days, given the expansion in the last days of the tribe which was reported last week and apparently spread faster than previously known versions of the virus.
After the detection of this variant, more than 50 countries have limited travel from the UK.
According to the latest official figures, infections on British soil have increased by 61.2% in the past seven days compared to the previous seven days.
In England there are already 17,709 hospital admissions with covid, increasingly close to the 18,974 hospital admissions reached at the height of the first wave of the pandemic on April 12.
“This Christmas and the beginning of 2021 will be a difficult period. The new variant makes everything much more difficult because it spreads much faster. But we must not give up, we know we can fight this virus, ”said the Minister of Health.
Hancock also reported that the UK regulator has already received the necessary information to review the approval of the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
“The vaccine is our way out of it all. Despite how tough Christmas and winter will be, we know the transformative power of science will help us navigate,” he said.