Vaccines may not be very effective against a new strain of coronavirus found in the Republic of South Africa (RSA). ITV News political editor Robert Peston was told this by one of the British government’s academic advisers.
According to the source of the journalist, the UK is not sure that already developed drugs will be as effective against the strain from South Africa as against the “British” version of the virus. Scientists are currently studying this problem, according to the material.
As noted, it is this fact that causes serious concern for the British Minister of Health Matthew Hancock. “It worries me that it [the South African strain] is even easier to transmit than the new variant we saw in the UK. But getting it under control was undoubtedly a huge challenge,” he told ITV. The minister added that so far only two cases of infection with the “South African” strain have been recorded on British soil.
A new mutation of the coronavirus was discovered in South Africa in mid-December 2020. A previously unknown species of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the country was named 501.V2. The South African Minister of Health emphasized that the second wave of coronavirus in the country is probably associated with this particular mutation of the disease. This strain is different from the coronavirus mutation found in the UK and subsequently in other countries.
By January 4, 2021, the number of cases of coronavirus infection in the world exceeded 85 million.