HANOI: Vietnam has discovered a new Covid-19 variant which spreads quicklyby air and is a combination of the Indian and British strains, state mediareported Saturday.
The country is struggling to deal with fresh outbreaks across more thanhalf of its territory including industrial zones and big cities such asHanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
More than 6,700 cases including 47 deaths have been reported in Vietnam,with the lion’s share occurring since April.
“We have discovered a new hybrid variant from the Indian and the UKstrains,” Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long was quoted telling a nationalmeeting on the pandemic Saturday.
“The characteristic of this strain is that it spreads quickly in the air.The concentration of virus in the throat fluid increases rapidly andspreads very strongly to the surrounding environment.”
He did not specify the number of cases recorded with this new variant butsaid Vietnam will soon announce the discovery in the world’s map of geneticstrains.
There were seven known coronavirus variants in Vietnam before Long’sannouncement, according to the Ministry of Health.
The communist country has previously received widespread applause for itsaggressive pandemic response, with mass quarantines and strict contacttracing helping keep infection rates relatively low.
The new round of infections has made the public and government fearful andauthorities quickly moved to place strict limits on movement and businessactivity.
Cafes, restaurants, hair salons and massage parlours as well as tourism andreligious spots have been ordered to close in various areas of the country.
Read Top Stories
Vietnam — a country of 97 million people — has vaccinated a little over amillion citizens.
It is now ramping up its jab rollout and hopes to achieve herd immunity bythe end of the year, according to the minister for health.
Authorities have called on people and businesses to donate money to helpprocure vaccines, while embassies and international organisations have beencontacted for assistance, state media reported.
The country presently has close to two million doses of AstraZeneca’svaccine remaining, but said it is buying more than 30 million doses of thePfizer shot.
It is also in talks with Russia to produce Sputnik V, according to statemedia, and is working on a home-grown vaccine.
In nearby Thailand, the government on Saturday took exception to mediareports in Britain that labelled a new strain causing concern there as theThai variant.
The strain was first detected in Thailand in a 33-year-old Egyptiantraveller, UK health authorities said, but 109 cases have since been foundin Britain.
“Principally speaking, it should not be called the Thai variant because theinfected person is from overseas,” said Opas Kankawinpong, head ofThailand’s disease control department.-APP/AFP
