Called the B.1.1.529 variant, it was detected by South African scientists on Tuesday, in samples from Nov 14-16. Amid fears due to the variant, European Union’s executive Ursula von der Leyen has proposed to ban flights from South Africa, following which, several members of the group are preparing to suspend international flights to the region. Additionally, the UK has suspended all flights from South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana. On the other hand, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that the countries should take a "risk-based and scientific approach". Global authorities were alerted recently to a new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa, with the EU and Britain among those tightening border controls as scientists sought to find out if the mutation was vaccine-resistant.

Source: dna November 26, 2021 14:31 UTC