Status: 05/29/2021 5:59 p.m.
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Another variant of the coronavirus has appeared in Vietnam. According to government information, this is a cross between the Indian and the British variant. The new hybrid form is apparently transferable more quickly.
According to official information from the government, a new variant of the corona virus has been discovered in Vietnam. Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said, according to reports from state media, the new variant had properties of both the previously known British form and the Indian form.
Minister: Rapid airborne dissemination
Laboratory tests suggested that the new variant is spreading more than others, the minister said. After infection, the viral load in the patient’s throat increases very quickly and then spreads very widely in the area. Perhaps that is the reason that the number of cases in Vietnam had recently increased. Long did not comment on the number of patients infected with the new variant.
Viruses keep forming mutations and numerous new variants have appeared since the Sars-CoV-2 virus was first detected in China at the end of 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) has so far classified four variants as of concern, those that were first discovered in the UK and India, and two more from South Africa and Brazil.
In Vietnam there are extremely few diseases compared to many other countries. 47 people died from or with the virus. Vietnam has a population of approximately 100 million. So far, 6,396 corona cases have been registered in the Southeast Asian country, but more than 3,000 of them since the end of April.
Lots of cases in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces
There were particularly many cases in the two provinces of Bac Ninh and Bac Giang, where hundreds of thousands of workers work for companies such as Samsung or Canon in huge industrial areas and assemble Apple products.
Despite strict regulations, one fifth of the 4,800 workers at a company in Bac Giang became infected. In the country’s largest metropolis, Ho Chi Minh City, with a population of nine million, 85 people tested positive for the virus. The health ministry said the cases were due to a Protestant church.
Religious events have since been banned across the country. In larger cities, events have been canceled, parks have been closed and restaurants, bars and other businesses have closed.
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