Nation leaders and health experts are scrambling to contain and research the newly discovered Covid-19 strain from Southern Africa.
President Biden announced the US will be joining other nations like the UK and Japan in banning flights from South Africa and surrounding nations. This will only apply to non-US citizens. The strain has already been found in other areas, like Israel, Belgium and Hong Kong. However there are no signs it is in the US.
The strain, dubbed "Omicron" by scientists has been designated a variant of concern due to its large amount of mutations. According to initial studies this is likely the most mutated variant of Covid-19 discovered so far.
According to Doctor Anthony Fauci, while research is still ongoing they've seen the strain is more transmissible than first thought.
"They're seeing that its more widespread in South Africa than was originally felt a couple of days ago," he said to CNN. "So it's in a fluid motion. We're finding more about it. And literally it's something that in real time, we're learning more and more about."
Many of the mutations affect the spike protein in Covid-19 which is the part most of the vaccines target. This has led many to worry the new variant is both more transmissible than others and resistant to current vaccines.
None of this is for sure yet however. Scientists are still doing research and say we likely won't know for sure how the Omicron strain is affected by current treatments until weeks from now.
Health officials stress that masking and social distancing continues to be one of the most effective ways to avoid transmission of all Covid-19 variants.
source
President Biden announced the US will be joining other nations like the UK and Japan in banning flights from South Africa and surrounding nations. This will only apply to non-US citizens. The strain has already been found in other areas, like Israel, Belgium and Hong Kong. However there are no signs it is in the US.
The strain, dubbed "Omicron" by scientists has been designated a variant of concern due to its large amount of mutations. According to initial studies this is likely the most mutated variant of Covid-19 discovered so far.
According to Doctor Anthony Fauci, while research is still ongoing they've seen the strain is more transmissible than first thought.
"They're seeing that its more widespread in South Africa than was originally felt a couple of days ago," he said to CNN. "So it's in a fluid motion. We're finding more about it. And literally it's something that in real time, we're learning more and more about."
Many of the mutations affect the spike protein in Covid-19 which is the part most of the vaccines target. This has led many to worry the new variant is both more transmissible than others and resistant to current vaccines.
None of this is for sure yet however. Scientists are still doing research and say we likely won't know for sure how the Omicron strain is affected by current treatments until weeks from now.
Health officials stress that masking and social distancing continues to be one of the most effective ways to avoid transmission of all Covid-19 variants.
source
