"We have discovered a hybrid variant combining the Indian virus and the British virus," the Vietnamese Minister of Health said on Saturday (May 29th).
This new variant of the Covid-19 virus, detected by Vietnam, is transmitted rapidly through the air, and is a combination of the Indian and British variants, state media reported.
"The new variant is very dangerous," Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long warned at a national meeting on the pandemic.
Laboratory cultures of the new strain, which is much more transmissible than previously known types, revealed that the virus replicates very quickly, Nguyen Thanh Long also said.
In addition to increased circulation, "the concentration of virus in the throat and saliva increases rapidly, and it spreads very quickly in the surrounding environment," the Vietnamese government explained.
A virulent new wave
Vietnam, applauded last year for its vigorous response to the pandemic, had until recently been affected very little by the virus.
But the country is facing a new wave of contaminations in more than half of its territory, including industrial zones and large cities, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and the authorities have responded by severely limiting movements and l 'activity.
The majority of the 6,700 cases and 47 deaths reported since the start of the pandemic have been recorded since April alone.
The number of cases attributable to this new variant has not yet been specified.
The characteristics of this new strain will, according to the Minister of Health, be published soon to add it to the map of variants in the world.
With AFP and Reuters
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