An advisory panel of the World Health Organisation has classified a new Covid-19 variant first detected in South Africa as a highly transmissible virus of concern and named it “Omicron'' under its Greek-letter system. The announcement on Saturday from the United Nations health agency marks the first time in months that WHO has classified a Covid-19 variant as such. READ MORE:* Covid-19: Israel warns of 'emergency' after detecting new coronavirus variant* Covid-19: New variant discovered in South Africa a 'wake-up call for all of us'* Covid-19: South African scientists detect new virus variant amid spike, added to UK travel red listBritish Health Secretary Sajid Javid told lawmakers that the newest variant may be more transmissible than the delta variant and render vaccines less effective. Some nations moved to stop air travel from southern Africa, and stocks tumbled in Asia, Europe and the United States. We don’t know if it’s a very dangerous variant,” Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said.

Source: Stuff November 27, 2021 15:51 UTC