Britain hit with another Covi-19 mutation

Another new genetic mutation of the coronavirus has been discovered in the U.K and this time scientists are linking it to South Africa.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock. REUTERS/Simon Dawson/Pool

The variant was first discovered in South Africa last week by scientists who noticed a higher than normal surge in infections in the country's Kwazulu-Natal province as well as Cape Town.

According to British Health Secretary Matt Hancock, two British tourists who recently visited South Africa brought in the virus and are at the moment the country's only two Covid-19 patients carrying the mutation.

The pair, along with their close contacts, have been put under quarantine. And as a precaution, the U.K will now temporarily ban all flights coming from South Africa.

Given the new discovery, the U.K will now have to deal with its own domestic grown Covid-19 mutation which the country's health secretary says is 70% more transmittable than the regular variant of the virus, along with the South African variant that Health Secretary Hancock said in a press conference is "more transmissible, and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK."

Hancock however is asking the public not to worry, saying the current Covid-19 vaccines available will equally be effective in combating the two new mutations of the virus, according to the latest data available.

By: Niza Nondo