The new coronavirus strain leads to travel headaches 

01:47
(CNN)A new strain of coronavirus first detected in the UK has prompted dozens of travel
bans and widespread concern about what this means for the world.

While scientists dig deeper, here's what this new strain means for you:

Why is this strain important?

The new variant has a series of mutations, the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention said.
"Based on these mutations, this variant strain has been predicted to potentially be more
rapidly transmissible than other circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2" -- the scientific name for
the novel coronavirus, the CDC said.

UK experts are 'highly confident' that a new coronavirus variant is more contagious
England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said Saturday the new strain "can spread more
quickly" and was responsible for 60% of new infections in London.
On Monday, an epidemiologist from the World Health Organization said, "We are hearing
that it could spread up to 70% faster."
"What they're seeing is that the reproduction number -- so this is the number of individuals
that an infected person transmits to -- has increased from 1.1 to 1.5," said Maria Van
Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead for Covid-19.
"I just want to put into context this up-to-70% increase."
Van Kerkhove said it's not yet clear whether that increase "is associated with the variant
itself," or if it's due to human behavior.
So far, "there is no evidence that this variant causes more severe illness or increased risk of
death," the CDC said Tuesday.
But a strain that spreads faster could lead to more infections, which in turn might lead to
more hospitalizations and deaths.

Where is this strain now?

Outside the UK, this strain has been detected in countries such as Denmark, Belgium, the
Netherlands, Italy and Australia. A similar but separate variant also has been identified in
South Africa.
As of Tuesday, the strain "has not been identified through sequencing efforts in the United
States, although viruses have only been sequenced from about 51,000 of the 17 million US
cases," the CDC said.

Covid-19 is now on every continent as Antarctica records its first outbreak

"Given the small fraction of US infections that have been sequenced, the variant could
already be in the United States without having been detected."
Epidemiologist Dr. Celine Gounder said she thinks this strain is already in the US because
it's been circulating in the UK for months before this recent surge.
Public Health England said backward tracing (using genetic evidence) suggests the strain
first emerged in England in September. It then circulated in very low levels until mid-
November.
"Because this virus has been circulating for some period of time in the UK already, the cat's
out of the bag," Gounder said. "It has spread elsewhere, including the United States."

Who's getting infected the most with this strain?

"Most COVID-19 cases from whom this variant has been identified have occurred in people
under 60 years of age," the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

Some kids struggle for months after coronavirus infection

That can be problematic because "when people are asymptomatic, they usually are under
age 60," CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen said.
"So that may be why this is spreading so quickly -- or part of the reason -- is that many of
these people aren't showing symptoms, so they're running around and spreading it."
Of course, people can be contagious for days before they get symptoms. And some young
people suffer long-term effects from Covid-19, too.
While severe illness from Covid-19 is relatively rare in children, "there is a hint is that [the
new strain] ... has a higher propensity to infect children," said scientist Neil Ferguson, a
member of the UK's New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group
(NERVTAG),
But he said more data is needed.

How do I protect myself from this new strain?

What you can do to make Christmas celebrations safer

This new strain means "we have to work a little bit harder about preventing the spread," Van
Kerkhove said.
Gounder agreed. "What we really need to be doing is focusing on the things we know will
prevent spread of this new variant -- which is the same thing that works against spread of
the coronavirus in general," she said.
"That is masks, social distancing."
Here's the difference between Covid-19 and coronavirus

Will vaccines work against this new strain?

Both the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine have shown efficacy rates of
around 95% in clinical trials. But now many wonder if the vaccines would work on variant
strains on the virus -- like the one spreading rapidly in the UK.
Age, pregnancy, allergies. Is the vaccine right for you? 03:17
Pfizer and Moderna said they're testing their vaccines to see if they work against the UK-
based strain.
The new strain could mean more people will need to get vaccinated to achieve herd
immunity, BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said Tuesday.
"On the topic of herd immunity, there is always the discussion about 60% to 70%," Sahin
said.
"But if the virus becomes more efficient in infecting people, we might need even a high
vaccination rate to ensure that normal life can continue without interruption."
The novel coronavirus has mutated before, and both vaccines have worked against
variations of the virus.

When can YOU get the vaccine?

"Up to now, I don't think there has been a single variant that would be resistant to the
vaccine," Moncef Slaoui, chief science adviser for Operation Warp Speed, said Sunday.
"We can't exclude it, but it's not there now."
Scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research are examining the variant and
expect to know in the next few days whether vaccines might not work against it.

How does this strain impact travel?

At least 24 countries are now banning passenger travel from the UK, including Canada,
Russia, Chile, Italy, Iran and Sweden.

Why you can test negative but still be infected and contagious with Covid-19
So far there are no plans for the US to enact a travel ban against the UK, US Assistant
Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir said Monday.
 British Airways, Delta Airlines and Virgin Atlantic have agreed to require passengers get
tested for Covid-19 before boarding planes from the UK to New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo
said.
But some health experts say Americans shouldn't be traveling anyway because new Covid-
19 hospitalizations and deaths are soaring -- and it's easy to infect loved ones without
realizing it.
"This is really not the time to be traveling," Gounder said.
CNN's Zamira Rahim, Jamie Gumbrecht, Fred Pleitgen and Mary Ilyushina contributed to
this report.

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