The World Health Organization believes that the vaccine against Covid-19 should be effective against the new coronavirus strain, as Global News reported citing WHO technical lead for COVID-19 Maria Van Kerkhove.
According to her, the WHO states that the new strain of coronavirus found in the UK does not influence the efficacy of the vaccine against Covid-19.
“The U.K. has informed us that they don’t believe that there’s an impact on the vaccine. So that’s good news,” she said.
Meanwhile, WHO’s top emergency expert Mike Ryan noted that during the last months, a few new strains appeared. However, according to Ryan, there are no grounds for concerns; any of the strains influenced the severity of the disease and cannot hide from the diagnostics or vaccines
Earlier, Prime Minister of the UK Boris Johnson stated that a new coronavirus strain was identified in the UK.
The World Health Organization urged Europeans to strengthen approaches to control and prevent the spread of the virus due to the appearance of a new strain of coronavirus in some European countries.
Besides, the new variant of coronavirus is observed in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Australia.
Over 40 countries in the world banned travelers from the UK from entry to their territories due to concerns about the spread of a new coronavirus strain. Spain, India, Hong Kong, and Pakistan are some of the last countries that banned the admission of flights from the UK. The list of countries that banned the entrance from the UK includes Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, and others. Some of the bans already act; others will start to act today.