GENEVA [SWITZERLAND] The new strain of coronavirus has been detected in eight European countries, said the regional director of WHO Europe, adding that the World Health Organization (WHO) continues to monitor the situation.
Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, highlighted the need to push forward protective measures, saying the new strain appears to be spreading among younger age groups, unlike previous strains.
“8 countries in the @WHO_Europe region have identified the new variant COVID-19 VOC-202012/01. It is vital to strengthen existing protection measures: distancing / masks / staying in central support bubbles. WHO continues to monitor and will provide updates” Hans Kluge tweeted.
“The variant also appears to be spreading among younger age groups, unlike earlier strains. Surveillance is important while research is being conducted to define its impact,” Kluge said in a subsequent tweet.
Last week, the new strain of the coronavirus was detected for the first time in the UK. According to experts, this type of infection is more transmissible than other variants of SARS-CoV-2. Following the arrival of the new strain, several countries introduced new travel restrictions.
The WHO on March 11 had declared the outbreak of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) a global pandemic.
According to Johns Hopkins University, 79,712,010 cases and 1,747,790 deaths have been reported worldwide. The United States continues to be the country most affected by the pandemic, followed by India and Brazil.
Meanwhile, a group of US scientists, including an American Indian from the prestigious Cleveland Clinic, has identified a possible new class of drugs that may be effective in treating certain common types of blood and bone marrow cancers.
First published in the latest issue of Blood Cancer Discovery, decade-long research reporting that Jaroslaw Maciejewski and his collaborator Babal Kant Jha from the Department of the Cleveland Clinic carried out a new drug strategy to preferentially target and kill cells leukemias with TET2 mutations. of Research in Hematology and Translational Oncology.
Myeloid leukemias are cancers derived from stem and progenitor cells in the bone marrow that give rise to all normal blood cells. One of the most common mutations involved in the conduction of myeloid leukemias is found in the TET2 gene, which has been investigated for the last decade by Maciejewski and Jha.
* With inputs from agencies
.
