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Scientists sound alarm over new ‘worst-ever’ super-mutant COVID variant that could make vaccines 40% less effective as the UK and Israel ban travel from South Africa and five other countries but passengers will continue to stream into US
- The B.1.1.529 variant has a ‘very unusual constellation’ of mutations and may be more resistant to the vaccine
- Likely to be officially named Nu, variant might evade the body’s immune response and be more transmissible
- There are currently 77 confirmed cases in South Africa, four in Botswana, one in Hong Kong and one in Israel
- However, the real numbers are likely much higher as health authorities establish the full scale of the spread
- Britain, Israel, Singapore, Germany and Ital are among increasing countries to block flights from South Africa
- There are no direct flights to US from any of the countries except South Africa. Early Friday morning, the CDC still listed South Africa as ‘Level 1: Low Level of COVID-19’ on the country’s travel advice page
By Harriet Alexander For Dailymail.com and Chris Jewers and Luke Andrews Health Reporter For Mailonline
Published: 01:42 GMT, 26 November 2021 | Updated: 11:44 GMT, 26 November 2021
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The variant – which could be named ‘Nu’ by the World Health Organization in the coming days – has caused an ‘exponential’ rise in infections in South Africa.
Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, said initial data from the variant was worrying and border restrictions should be imposed.
‘Looks like vaccine evasion could be real with this variant,’ he tweeted, pointing out that the two patients in Hong Kong who had the variant were both doubled-jabbed with the Pfizer vaccine.
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