Countries imposing travel curbs were acting out of an abundance of caution while they assess risks, Ryan said, adding: "That is prudent. But it is also important that everyone recognises that this happens, these variants occur." WHO officials said coronavirus mutations had so far been much slower than with influenza and that even the new UK variant remained much less transmissible than other diseases like mumps. They said vaccines developed to combat COVID-19 should handle the new variants as well, although checks were under way to ensure this was the case. The WHO said it expects to get more detail within days or weeks on the potential impact of the highly transmissible new coronavirus strain.

Source: bd News24 December 21, 2020 18:22 UTC