Virus variants in Asia threaten the whole world
If the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread worldwide, vaccines could become ineffective and strains could escape immunity. The right vaccines need to go to the places where they are needed.
Coronavirus variants could make the pandemic harder to combat
According to genome databases, such as nextstrain.org, there are now more than 1,000 known variants of the SARS CoV-2 virus.
Up to now, the variants of concern have been named after the places where they were first discovered. But in a move to avoid stigmatizing particular countries, the World Health Organization has now introduced a new naming system based on the letters of the Greek alphabet. The UK/Kent, South African, Brazilian and Indian variants will now be given the letters Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta respectively. But the labels will not replace their more complex scientific names.
CHINA / SOCIETY
By Global Times Published: May 31, 2021 06:31 PM
Residents in Wuhan, capital of Central China s Hubei Province, take COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday at a local vaccination site. Hubei had administered more than 6.3 million doses to its residents as of Sunday, and it vowed to vaccinate all major areas and major groups. Wuhan itself has vowed to vaccinate all local residents aged 18 and above. Photo: VCG
Since the beginning of May, the Chinese mainland has reported 50 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and found new silent carriers for 18 consecutive days, showing a faster transmission speed and a strong virus strain, while Chinese-made vaccines can tackle the different virus variants so far, officials from China s top health authority and CDC said on Monday.
Vietnam reports detection of a new SARS-COV-2 variant, which is a combination of B.1.617 (first detected in India) and B.1.117 (found first in the United Kingdom)