UK New Coronavirus Strain Now in More Than 60 Countries

The new coronavirus strain detected in the UK is said to be 70% more transmissible than other existing Covid-19 strains in existence.

It spreads fast, takes over as the dominant strain quicker and jumps from human to human like the chain lightning in World of Warcraft 3.

So it goes without saying that, even if countries took up arms and guarded against the UK, chances are, the new strain is going to enter the country anyway.

Here’s what the World Health Organisation (WHO) has to say.

UK New Coronavirus Strain Now in More Than 60 Countries

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO). the British coronavirus strain has been detected in more than 60 countries.

That’s despite the various actions that happened after the new strain was unveiled to the world, including suspension of flights and blocking entry to people travelling from the UK by several countries.

UK’s new coronavirus strain wasn’t the only one in the limelight.

The South African’s new coronavirus strain, which is said to be more infectious as well, has also been reported in 23 countries and territories.

While many countries, including Singapore, are racing to get their people vaccinated as fast as possible, there are several countries, including a few EU countries, India and Russia, which are struggling to get their vaccination drives off the ground.

Current Covid-19 Vaccine Effective Against New Strain Of Covid-19

One of the biggest worries the world has is whether the new coronavirus has mutated so drastically, current vaccines no longer work against it.

Well, if you’re worried about that as well, don’t.

According to lab results released on 20 Jan 2021, the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is likely able to protect against the new coronavirus strains.

The study took blood from participants in the trials for analysis and is said to be more extensive than Pfizer’s own study, which released the results last week.

Pfizer says that their vaccine works effectively against a key mutation, P501Y.

The mutation can be found in the new coronavirus variants that are spreading in the UK and South Africa.

Experts spoken to are not surprised with the findings and say they will keep an eye out for similar studies on the South African variant.

Meanwhile, Pfizer says it’ll publish a “more detailed analysis” of their Covid-19 vaccine on the South Africa Covid-19 variant.

Other vaccine makers, including Moderna, CureVac and AstraZeneca, are also testing to check if their vaccine will be effective against the new variants.

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