The UK has closed its doors to the new Corona variant, which originated in Africa. Flights from 8 countries, including South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana, were stopped. Health Minister Sacit Cavit said that “this variant has not been found in the UK for now, but it has most likely spread to other countries”.
Professor Oliveira, head of the Center for Disease Control and Research, South Africa, said this variant is an “unusual combination of mutations”.
In his statement, Health Minister Javit warned his citizens that this variant could be more contagious than Delta and its effect could be very different. According to the minister, the UK is still strong due to its success in the vaccine, but there are many more mutations in this new strain of the virus.
In the statement from the center in South Africa, the expression “surprising” was used for the change in the virus. Professor Oliviera stated that this mutation occurs in the protrusions (spike protein) surrounding the virus.
While the number of mutations detected in the delta variant was only 2, 10 mutations were found in this newly derived variant. This comes to the fore as a reason that makes the effectiveness of vaccines controversial. Because the success of all vaccines in practice is based on the first form of the virus, when it emerged in Wuhan.
The UK bases its decision to suspend the flight on the new variant on concerns that it may reduce the effectiveness of both vaccines and treatments available to patients. The British National Health Services Organization (NHS) had been administering the antibody drug Ronapreve to around 700-800 people who were hospitalized, among the number of cases that were between 40-50 thousand per day for a while.
Information from another source from Africa also justifies the concerns in the UK. Professor Richard Lessells from the University of KwaZulu-Natal said that the virus with new mutations is worrying about transmission and overcoming people’s immune system.
The first place where this new variant was detected is Hong Kong. After it was determined that the carrier came from South Africa, the local authorities there were immediately informed about this.
According to the statements of British Health Minister Javit, this virus could be detected in South Africa with a PCR test at a rate of 80 percent. Javit added that the number of cases could quadruple after two weeks, according to calculations, as the transmission coefficient in the region has increased.
The UK has suspended flights from the region starting at noon on Friday and until 4:00 am on Sunday. British and Irish citizens stranded there will be subject to an 11-day paid hotel quarantine when they return to their countries after Sunday. It was announced that no one other than them could enter the country.