A suspicious coronavirus variant detected in Vietnam is part of the existing Indian variant and not a new hybrid mutation, a World Health Organization official said
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd June, 2021) A suspicious coronavirus variant detected in Vietnam is part of the existing Indian variant and not a new hybrid mutation, a World Health Organization official said.
The Vietnamese health minister said this week that a coronavirus variant that combined traits of the Indian and UK strains was detected in the Southeast Asian country for the first time.
"There is no new hybrid variant in Vietnam at this moment based on WHO definition," Kidong Park, the health agency's representative in Vietnam, told the Nikkei newspaper in an interview.
He said that the variant found in Vietnam was the Indian strain, called Delta, with additional mutations and needed more observation. The Indian strain is highly contagious and has spread to other countries.
"This is within the existing [Delta] variant. It is an additional mutation," Park said, adding that "as for now, there is no alarming alert from WHO."
Vietnam had been one of the world's most successful countries in preventing the spread of the virus, but it has reported a surge in cases in late April. It is unclear if the Indian variant is behind the rise in infections.
