welcome to those watching in the uk and around the globe. we start with growing concerns over the emergence of a new strain of covid 19 in south africa. the world health organisation has in the past few hours classified it as a variant of concern and named it the greek letter omicron. meanwhile european union leaders have agreed to suspend travel from affected areas after belgium detected the first case in europe. the us have also announced they will bring in restrictions from monday. south africa has denounced the measures taken against the country, calling them unjustified and draconian . here s the statement from the world health organization. mcron is named as a variant of concern because mcron is named as a variant of concern because it mcron is named as a variant of concern because it has mcron is named as a variant of concern because it has concernin- concern because it has concerning properties. it has a large number of mutations and some of them have som
Worrying characteristics. why now there are many studies under way and a lot of work is going in south africa to characterise the variant in terms of transmissibility, in terms of severity and any impact on our countermeasures such as the use of therapeutics and vaccines. so far there is little information about there is little information about the studies are under way so we need researchers to have time to carry them out and the who will inform the public and member states when we have the information. the uk was one of the first countries to react to the new variant announcing travel restrictions on thursday. as fergus walsh reports. after months of opening up, a new coronavirus variant means travel restrictions are back. at heathrow, the last flights from south africa arrived this morning. i feel extremely relieved, because, yeah, who knows how long
The covid pandemic worse. the alpha variant, identified in kent, drove a huge wave of hospital admissions and deaths here last winter. the delta variant, first detected in india, was even more transmissible and is currently the dominant strain worldwide. on paper, the new variant looks worrying, with twice the number of mutations found on delta. around 30 of these are in the spike protein, the key the virus uses to unlock our cells, and these changes may help it evade our body s defences. so far, we don t know whether the variant causes more severe disease, whether vaccines will be less effective, or drugs won t work. it s the sheer number and type of mutations that has scientists here troubled. some of them have never been seen in combinations like this before, many of them we have seen
The cuban missile crisis. this is bbc news, the latest headlines. the world health organisation designates a new covid strain found in southern africa as a variant of concern , amid fears the heavily mutated variant could be more infectious and more resistant to vaccines. the french president has accused the uk of not being serious about tackling the migrant crisis following suggestions france should take back people crossing the english channel. lizzie greenwood hughes has all the sport.
Welcome to those watching in the uk and around the globe. we start with growing concerns over the emergence of a new strain of covid 19 in south africa. the world health organisation has in the past few hours classified it as a variant of concern and named it the greek letter omicron. meanwhile european union leaders have agreed to suspend travel from affected areas after belgium detected the first case in europe. the us have also announced they will bring in restrictions from monday. south africa has denounced the measures taken against the country, calling them unjustified and draconian . here s the statement from the world health organization. mcron is named as a variant of concern because mcron is named as a variant of concern because it mcron is named as a variant of concern because it has mcron is named as a variant of concern because it has concernin- concern because it has concerning properties. it has a large number of mutations and some of them have some