“The strong contagious power is the biggest problem. It is the most dangerous event for the international community since the outbreak of the Corona 19 pandemic in February.”
The coronavirus strain, which has spread in Britain and South Africa, is terrifying citizens of the world. According to foreign reports on the 24th (Korean time), at least 11 countries including the UK, South Africa Italy Ireland Denmark Netherlands Belgium Australia Brazil Singapore Malaysia, etc. have confirmed cases of a variant virus infection that is more infectious than the existing Corona 19 virus.
Experts in infectious diseases around the world are saying that there is a high possibility that a large-scale infection has already begun as the blockade of Corona 19 was lifted on the 2nd in London, UK, which has been pointed out as the central point of the spread of the virus.
British Health Minister Matt Hancock shocked at a press conference on the 23rd (local time) by revealing that a new variant from South Africa was confirmed. The variant identified by two people who recently arrived from South Africa to the UK was named ‘501.Y.V2’, and it is believed to be as strong as the variant (501.Y) identified in September. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed that the ‘501.Y’ variant shows more than 70% more contagiousness than the existing Corona 19 virus.
As new variants from South Africa were identified following the domestic variant, the British government initiated immediate self-isolation on those who visited or contacted South Africa within the last 14 days, along with restrictions on travel to South Africa.
The Associated Press reported that the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed on the same day that another variant of Corona 19 appears to have emerged in Nigeria as well.
On the other hand, countries around the world have expanded measures to suspend flights to and from the UK, and began to block the most intense skyways in the second half of the global pandemic in February.
In particular, as cases of confirmed strains were reported in Singapore and Malaysia, among Asian countries, following Europe and Australia, fear of the variant virus is rapidly spreading throughout Asia.
A new case of COVID-19 strain has been discovered in Brazil, and researchers at the Brazilian National Institute of Science and Evaluation (LNCC) are analyzing the relationship with the UK variant and the level of contagion. Andrew Hayward, a professor at University College London, said the emergence of the new variant was the worst news that has blown since the outbreak of the pandemic in February, and urged the UK government to block its borders in an effort to prevent the spread of the variant globally. In the midst of this, U.S. biotechnology company Moderna announced that the Corona 19 vaccine developed by its company is effective against a variant virus originating in the UK.
Moderna said in a statement that day, “As a result of testing with serum from animals and humans, we have confirmed that our vaccine is equally effective for several types of SARS strains discovered from the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak.”
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is speeding up vaccination, announced that it had received 1,0825 doses of vaccine nationwide as of 9 am on the 23rd. This is significantly less than the federal government’s goal (to achieve 20 million vaccinations by the end of the year), and local media reported that Pfizer vaccines were stored and moved at cryogenic temperatures, and the lack of personnel at the vaccination site was acting as an obstacle. It is noteworthy that the US government is still aggressive in securing next year’s vaccine volume regardless of the speed of on-site vaccination. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is considering plans to reduce the dose of vaccines to increase the supply of modders or vaccines, the biomedia BioCentury said.
In addition to Pfizer and Modena vaccines, the U.S. government said it is working with the company to ensure that the vaccine being developed by Janssen, a pharmaceutical company owned by Johnson & Johnson, can be used by February next year. It is also speeding up securing treatments along with vaccines. The U.S. Ministry of Health and Welfare has signed a contract to supply up to 100,000 COVID-19 treatments by the end of June next year from the pharmaceutical company Merck, CNN and others reported.
Meanwhile, the presidential office announced on the 24th that French President Emmanuel Macron, who was in quarantine after being infected with Corona 19, will return to the Elysée Palace without any more symptoms.
[이재철 기자 / 김제관 기자 / 신혜림 기자]
[ⓒ 매일경제 & mk.co.kr, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]