Europe Records First Case of COVID Super-Mutant in Belgium

[Celerity]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/europe-to-shut-out-flights-from-southern-africa-in-fear-of-nu-variant





https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/11/26/world/covid-vaccine-boosters-variant

[sinkingfeeling]

1. We need to stop unvaccinated people from traveling, IMHO.

[Haggard Celine]

3. You'd think they would already have done that with the airlines.

They need to do it now, although it might be too late.

[Celerity]

4. +10000000000000000

[dutch777]

9. If it is blowing by the vaccines...have to stop EVERYBODY from traveling.

We are our own worst enemies. Other than maybe the military and some very high level governmental functions, who HAS to travel internationally?

[LonePirate]

2. It's already global even if it has not been detected everywhere yet.

This virus has a knack of being transmitted from one person to another even when the transmitter does not think they are infected with it. Once a new strain is detected, it is already too late to prevent its spread.

That being said, epidemiologists might want to investigate why South Africa is better at detecting these new strains or why the country may be more conducive to spawning new strains. Is there something about the country's geography or climate or the biology/health of its citizens that is a factor here?

[TheRealNorth]

5. Yeah

If it is already the predominant strain in S. Africa, it likely had already been spreading for a month or two.

[littlemissmartypants]

6. They're already on that mission.

The new variant is likely to have evolved during a chronic infection of an immuno-compromised person, possibly in an untreated HIV/AIDS patient, Francois Balloux, director of the UCL Genetics Institute, said in a statement published by the Science Media Centre. The world's biggest number of HIV cases has complicated South Africa's efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic, as immuno-compromised people can harbor the virus for longer, scientists say.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/new-covid-variant-with-unusual-mutations-a-serious-concern-in-south-africa-2624718

[Renew Deal]

7. I'm sure it's in the US by now.

That’s the way things work. I know that a negative Covid test is needed to return but that’s not foolproof.

[uponit7771]

8. +1

[NickB79]

10. So it's in Egypt and/or Turkey already

Great.