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People wear masks to go out during Christmas in Singapore (photo taken on December 20) – Photo: REUTERS
According to Reuters, Singapore authorities announced on December 24 that they had registered the first case of infection with a new variant of the coronavirus.
The new variant of the corona virus B117 is also known as VUI-202012/01 (“VUI” stands for the phrase “Investigational variant”, that is, “investigational variant”).
Along with this case, another 11 cases have been isolated after having initial positive test results for VUI-202012/01 and the final results of the confirmatory test are still awaiting. All of these cases returned to Singapore from Europe.
“There is currently no evidence that the B117 strain has spread in the community,” said the Singapore Ministry of Health.
Patients identified as infected with the VUI-202012/01 variant went from the UK to Singapore on December 6. This person was medically quarantined as soon as they arrived and tested positive on 8-12.
All cases of close contact with this patient have been medically quarantined and tested negative at the end of the quarantine period.
Singapore proceeded to decode the virus genome with confirmed COVID-19 cases with recent travel history to Europe.
Singapore has blocked recent visitors to the UK to avoid the risk of infection with a new variant of the corona virus.
Also on December 24, the Israeli Health Ministry announced that it had discovered 4 patients infected with a new variant of the corona virus found in the UK. Three of them have just returned from the UK and are being quarantined in a private facility. The fourth case is being investigated for the source of infection.
The VUI-202012/01 variant of the corona virus is spreading rapidly in the UK, causing more than 40 countries to impose restrictions or suspend the entry of passengers from the UK.
Israel has closed its border to foreign tourists since March, except in a few cases, including students and journalists.
However, due to complicated new developments, this week Israel revised its policy, removing these exceptions for non-Israeli passengers from the UK, South Africa and Denmark.
Consequently, from December 23 to January 1, 2021, all Israelis returning from abroad will be required to be medically isolated in quarantine centers in accordance with new regulations announced on the Israel Ministry of Health website.
D. KIM THAI
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