CHINA DETECTS FISRT CASE OF NEW VARIANT OF COVID-19 FOUND IN

BRITAIN

China has detected its first case of new variant of COVID-19. The variant was found in a 23-
year-old female student returning to China from Britain, who was tested in shanghai on
December 14. Researchers ran a gene-sequencing on the patient’s sample on December 24 and
found out that the strain is a variant known as “VUI202012/01” which is rapidly spreading in
countries like Britain, according to a publication run by Chinese Center for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
Countries around the world started to implement travel ban links to Britain to stop the spread of
the new variant which is said to be 40 – 70 percent more transmissible than the previously
dominant strain according to some expert.
The new strain was first seen in Britain last September, 2020 and by the first week of December
London got almost 62% of its cases from the new variant. The new variant includes a genetic
mutation that, in theory could result in spreading more easily between people.
The case was a great potential threat to the prevention and control of covid-19 in the country and
to prevent this from happening China suspends direct flights to and from Britain.

NEWS- THE CSU COMMUNICATOR 1