MutantVirus
New COVID-19 virus strain may be present in other countries: WHO chief scientist
New Delhi: Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist at the World Health Organisation, has said the new mutant strain of the covid-19, which has been found in the UK, may already be present in other countries.
She told NDTV it is still too early to draw conclusions about the new strain - which initial data suggests is up to 70 per cent more transmissible - and that it is "unlikely a couple of mutations" could affect the immune system's response to one of the existing Covid vaccines.
"The UK is one of those countries that is doing a lot of whole genome sequencing and is therefore able to track this very closely in real time. I suspect that as more countries look at their data, they might find this variant, or a related variant, might already be there," Dr Swaminathan told NDTV.
"There have been mutations (of other viruses) in the past that become the dominant variant going forward. This may just be another such variant," she told the news channel, adding, "It is unlikely that a couple of mutations in the spike protein could change the response of the immune system to the vaccine."
She said the measures to contain the virus are the same.
Several nations have imposed travel bans to and from the UK after the new strain of the virus was reported from the country.
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