British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Monday he was now very worried about the strand found in South Africa. Public Health England said there was currently no evidence to suggest that vaccines will not be effective against the new strain. Scientists say the new South African variant has multiple mutations in the important "spike" protein that the virus uses to infect human cells. Oxford's Bell, who advises the government's vaccine task force, said on Sunday he thought vaccines would work on the British variant but said there was a "big question mark" as to whether they would work on the South African variant. "We are testing whether our vaccine can also neutralise this variant and will soon know more," he said.

Source: bd News24 January 04, 2021 11:15 UTC