New mutations in the Omicron coronavirus are ‘alarming’, said the World Health Organization

The highly modified coronavirus virus linked to the high rate of crime in South Africa has been identified as a “concern” by the World Health Organization, with many countries moving to curb traffic coming from the affected area.

The problem will be dubbed “Omicron”, the WHO said after an emergency meeting on Friday, where its experts reviewed South African data that appeared to indicate significant growth in the B.1.1.529 Sars-Cov-2 species. .

In the past, many countries including the UK and Israel, as well as EU member states, have imposed travel restrictions on a group of southern African countries following the hike. concern among scientists that the species could evade the vaccine and spread faster than the well-known Delta species.

Sajid Javid, the UK health secretary, described the new change as “a major global concern”, telling the House of Commons: “Early signs indicate that these differences are more contagious than Delta, and modern vaccines may not be effective against them.”

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, warned that the difference “could spread around the world in a few months”, as the first case was confirmed in Europe. He encouraged Europeans to get vaccinated, including three shots.

Belgium’s health minister, Frank Vandenbroucke, confirmed the EU’s first case in examples taken from an Egyptian visitor. A convincing case, a returnee from Malawi, and two suspected cases were also found in Israel, which quickly shut down almost all travel to and from Africa.

Naphtali Bennett, Israel’s prime minister, has warned that the country is in the grip of a “catastrophic” catastrophe, when it sent troops to retrieve newly arrived travelers from the affected countries.

Hong Kong has reportedly filed two separate cases following genome analysis, including a traveler who came from South Africa.

In the US Anthony Fauci, chief medical officer at Joe Biden, said Washington was “rushing” to find more scientific information on the new crisis but to find out more about the need to ban air travel from South Africa.

Fauci said the way to stop the plane was “on the table”, but added: “You do not want to say you will do it until you have scientific reasons to do so.”

U.S. scientists spoke to South African scientists on Friday, Fauci said, in an interview with CNN.

Countries affected by the UK travel ban are South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland. Returners from these countries are required to be away for 10 days at a state residence.

South Africa on Friday criticized the UK, which moved on Thursday evening, in a bid to ban travel before it was properly tested.

“While South Africa respects the right of all nations to take action to protect their citizens, the UK’s idea of ​​temporarily barring South Africans from entering the UK appears to have been dismissed,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

These mutants have 50 unusual mutations, plus 32 in the spike receptor, meaning they can prevent vaccinated immunity and spread faster than Delta, although there is no definitive information.

The WHO concept on Friday skipped the middle ground calling the new genre “exciting”.

“B.1.1.529 was selected as a stressor and we called it an omicron,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s chief technology officer for Covid-19.

Experts at Friday’s WHO conference argued that they should wait “a few days” before giving too much meaning, according to someone who is well versed in what has been said. This was rejected because the “wait and see” approach was one of the key issues in responding to the epidemic. The world “always acts late”, the man said.

Additional reports from Mehul Srivastava in Tel Aviv, Andy Bounds in Brussels, Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe in London and Aime Williams in Washington.