[ad_1]
COPENHAGEN: The World Health Organization calls on its members in Europe to intensify measures against the coronavirus in the face of the new variant circulating in Britain, its European branch said on Sunday.
Outside of Britain, nine cases of the new strain have been reported in Denmark, as well as one case in the Netherlands and one in Australia, according to the WHO.
“Across Europe, where transmission is intense and widespread, countries must redouble their control and prevention approaches,” a WHO Europe spokeswoman told AFP.
READ ALSO | Europe is the first region to exceed 500,000 deaths from coronavirus
The UN agency urged its members around the world to “increase the sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 viruses where possible and to share sequence data internationally, in particular to report if the same worrisome mutations, “he said.
Several European countries decided on Sunday to suspend all flights from Britain after the discovery of the new strain that London said was “out of control”.
The WHO noted “preliminary signs that the variant may spread more easily between people” and “preliminary information that the variant may affect (the) performance of some diagnostic assays (tests).”
He said he “had no evidence to indicate any change in the severity of the disease, but this is also under investigation.”
For its part, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said that “the ongoing circulation of this variant outside the UK cannot be excluded.”
He advised that “people with an epidemiological link to cases with the new variant or a history of travel to areas known to be affected should immediately identify themselves to test, isolate and follow up their contacts in order to stop the spread of the new variant”.
The scientific name of the new strain is VUI 202012/01, and VUI stands for Variant Under Investigation.
Last week, Europe became the first region in the world to surpass 500,000 deaths from Covid-19 since the pandemic broke out a year ago, killing more than 1.6 million worldwide and plunging the global economy into a crisis.
Countries are closing their economies with restrictions again in an attempt to control the virus.
