EU suspends travel to southern Africa over new variant
Several countries have suspended travel to southern Africa after health officials there warned of a new COVID-19 variant that could potentially be causing a surge in cases.
The EU on Friday agreed to impose a ban on travel to countries in southern Africa over fears of the recently-discovered variant, B.1.1.529.
According to The Associated Press, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said flights “should be suspended until we have a clear understanding about the danger posed by this new variant, and travelers returning from this region should respect strict quarantine rules.”
She insisted on extreme caution, warning that “mutations could lead to the emergence and spread of even more concerning variants of the virus that could spread worldwide within a few months.”
According to NPR, it’s not yet clear if the new variant is more infectious or causes a person to contract a more severe infection.
CNN reports that that genomic scientists say the new variant has an “unusually high” number of mutations that cause the virus to have more of the key spike proteins it uses to get into the healthy cells it attacks.
NPR says the new variant also has twice as many mutations as the delta variant, which caused a new surge in cases this summer.
The World Health Organization has convened a technical group of experts to decide whether the new variant warrants being designated a variant of interest or a variant of concern.
