Geneva, Dec 22: Despite a number of mutations so far of the Covid-19, none of them, including the new mutant variant found in the UK, has made a significant impact on the susceptibility of the virus to any of the currently used therapeutics, drugs or the vaccines under development, according to World Health Organization (WHO) experts.
Addressing a briefing here on Monday, WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said the novel coronavirus has mutated at a much slower rate than the influenza virus, the latter having required that its vaccine strains be reviewed and revised each year based on the circulating strains prevalent that year, Xinhua news agency.
“So far, even though we’ve seen a number of changes, a number of mutations, none has made a significant impact on either the susceptibility of the virus to any of the currently used therapeutics, drugs or the vaccines under development,” she said.
The WHO chief scientist emphasized that it was important to continuously monitor what’s happening to this virus, with the focus on bringing transmission down and getting it as low as possible.
“Because the more viruses you have in circulation, the more chances of mutation and the more such variants that can arise. The bottom line here is to keep the virus transmission low and keep circulation low.
“Don’t allow it to get out of hand and spread in the population. That way, we can keep the mutations down,” Swaminathan added.
Meanwhile, Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said that even with the latest UK variant, “there’s zero evidence at this point that there’s any increase in severity associated with this disease”.
1,500 France-bound trucks stranded
More than 1,500 trucks were stranded in England on Tuesday morning amid fears that Britain could face food shortages if travel restrictions put in place to slow the spread of a new strain of the coronavirus aren’t lifted soon.
Dozens of countries around the world have slapped tough travel curbs on the U.K. in recent days: From Canada to India, nations banned flights from Britain, while France barred the entry of trucks from the country for 48 hours from late Sunday while the strain is assessed. (Agencies)
