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International media reported that on December 24, Singapore is the last country to record the appearance of the virus strain B.1.1.7 (also known as VUI-202012/01) – variant of SARS-CoV-2.
According to the Strait Times, the infected person is a 17-year-old student who just returned from the UK on December 6. All the people exposed to the previous patient were isolated and tested positive for the virus.
On December 23, the Israeli Minister of Health, Yuli Edelstein, announced that he had registered 4 cases of variant B.1.1.7 in this country. Three cases were people who had just returned from England and were staying in state hotels.
However, the fourth case did not go abroad. This patient was most likely infected by an unidentified individual in Israel, suggesting that a new strain of the Corona virus may be spreading in this Middle Eastern country.
On the same day, Dr. Ricardo Jorge (INSA) of the National Institutes of Health said that three new variants of the Corona virus were discovered in the regions of Portugal during the second outbreak of COVID-19.
In addition, the SCMP newspaper reported on December 23 that two new cases of virus infection were detected in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (China), which were students returning from the United Kingdom. These two people returned to the country on December 7 and 13, of which 1 person was cured.
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health has also confirmed in the country that there have been cases of new variants of the recently discovered SARS-CoV-2 virus in the UK, which Malaysia calls A701V. According to the Malaysian Ministry of Health, a variant of the Corona virus was found among 60 samples collected in the state of Sabah in the north of the country.
The European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) said that the B.117 virus strain in the UK appeared in Northern Ireland, Iceland, Denmark, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands … This agency also leads The media confirmed some variants of virus infections in Belgium and Italy.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also warned that while the virus strain has not been detected in the UK, it may already exist there. The United States has the highest number of people with COVID-19 in the world, with 18.3 million cases and more than 323,000 deaths.
According to Germany’s DW newspaper, SARS-CoV-2 variant B.117 has likely spread to Germany. The president of the Research Institute, Robert Koch, the German disease control agency, Lothar Wieler assessed that the possibility that a variant of the virus appeared in Germany, but has not been detected, is very high.
Before that, health officials in some countries in Europe and Australia also announced the discovery of new virus strains. While in South Africa, health officials believe that the current variant of the virus is not the same as that found in the UK.
Earlier this week, two visitors from England to New South Wales were found to be infected with the new virus. Both men were safely quarantined. The incidence of COVID-19 in the city of Sydney has increased dramatically in recent days. However, health officials do not believe that the above cases are related to the B.117 strain.
Meanwhile, South African researchers also found traces of a new strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. They believe that this strain of virus, named 501.V2, is different from the one that appeared in the UK.
Over the weekend, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the rapidly spreading new virus was capable of infecting humans 70% more than other strains. He said it was the cause of the sudden increase in new infections in London and the south of the country. However, the UK health agency confirmed that there is no evidence that this variant of the virus is more toxic or fatal, or reduces the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Faced with this new development, neighboring countries with the United Kingdom and more distant countries such as Canada, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Iran, Israel, Turkey, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia … announced the suspension of flights to and from the United Kingdom. According to the plan, representatives of the EU countries met urgently to discuss how to react to the new threat.
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