New variant of the coronavirus in South Africa, B.1.1.529, which according to the Guardian may be the worst ever identified. In the next few hours, the World Health Organization (WHO) will meet to determine whether the new South African variant should be classified as “worrying”, meanwhile saying that “it has a large number of mutations”.
South Africa has a vaccination rate of just 24% of the total population and it is speculated that the many mutations have accumulated in an immunosuppressed person who has struggled with the coronavirus for weeks or months. The South African National Institute of Communicable Diseases reported that the presence of the variant has been documented with sequencing in 22 positive cases, mostly young, but many more have already been reported from various laboratories in the country. In total, at least sixty cases have been ascertained worldwide, including four in Botswana and one in Hong Kong in a traveler returning from South Africa.
For this reason, some countries have decided to introduce measures to avoid importing them. These include Great Britain, which has temporarily suspended air links with South Africa, but also with Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Eswatini.
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So did Israel, which will ban its citizens from traveling to southern Africa. In India, however, arrangements were made to carry out “rigorous screening and testing” of travelers who had arrived from South Africa and to trace and test their contacts. New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson called the new variant “a real wake-up call for all of us, this pandemic is still ongoing.”
The Japanese government shares the line and has decided to tighten border controls for visitors from South Africa and five other African countries. This was announced by the Jiji news agency.
Singapore has also joined the United Kingdom and Israel and in the wake of the general alarm over the new variant has closed the entrances from seven countries of southern Africa and for the citizens of Singapore who have to return home from these countries, a 10-day quarantine.
The thud of the bags
Asian stock exchanges closed lower with investor fears about the impact on the economy of the new variant of the coronavirus identified in Africa. Inflation trends and the next moves by central banks also remain in the spotlight. Spotlight on commodity prices and the impact on economic recovery. Closing down sharply for Tokyo (-2.5%). On the currency market, the yen appreciates against the dollar at 114.50, and against the euro at 128.50. While trading is still underway, Hong Kong (-2.3%), Shanghai (-0.5%), Shenzhen (-0.2%), Seoul (-1.5%) and Mumbai (-2%) are in the red. 2%).
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