A hybrid variant of COVID-19 combining characteristics of Indian B.1.617 and British B.1.1.7 was detected in Vietnam.
As the world redoubles efforts to accelerate vaccination against COVID-19, a new variant derived from two of the most aggressive it was detected in Vietnam the last week of May.
The Minister of Health, Nguyen Thanh Lon, released the news on Saturday, May 29 and although more studies are still needed to know in depth if it is a risk variant, whose characteristics could accelerate transmissibility or impact on the lethality of the virus, Thanh Lon emphasized airborne transmission:
“The main characteristic of this virus is that it spreads rapidly through the air. The concentration of virus in the throat and saliva increases rapidly and spreads rapidly in a close environment, “he added.
Photo: Linh Pham / Getty Images
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The Vietnamese epidemiological surveillance system is working hard to analyze the speed of spread of this variant in the different provinces and hopes to publish its characteristics shortly.
Since the start of the pandemic, Vietnam had been one of the Southeast Asian countries that had best resisted the ravages of the coronavirus, thanks to controversial mass quarantines and restrictions on mobility.
After facing a pair of waves in August 2020 and February 2021 With no more than 100 infections a day, the nation of 97 million inhabitants (of which only one million have been vaccinated) faces an unprecedented escalation of new infections and deaths that took hold in mid-May. However, right now it is impossible to know if the new wave of COVID-19 facing Vietnam is due to the new variant.
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