LONDON, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Britain is bringing in travel restrictions for six African countries due to a new COVID variant that experts have called "really awful", health authorities said Friday.
British Health Secretary Sajid Javid tweeted: "UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency) is investigating a new variant. More data is needed but we're taking precautions now."
The British government has added South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia to the country's travel red list. Flights from these nations to Britain have been suspended until 4 a.m. (0400 GMT) on Sunday until hotel quarantine is up and running.
Passengers arriving in Britain from these countries from 0400 GMT on Sunday will be required to book and pay for a government-approved hotel to quarantine for 10 days. The British government has urged anyone who has arrived from these countries recently to get tested.
Designated as B.1.1.529, scientists are still unclear whether existing antibodies would react well to the variant, which has 32 spike protein mutations.
Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, branded the mutations "really awful" on Twitter.
"Given the large number of mutations it has accumulated apparently in a single burst, it likely evolved during a chronic infection of an immunocompromised person, possibly in an untreated HIV/AIDS patient," said Francois Balloux, professor of computational systems biology and director of Genetics Institute at University College London.
Europe has recorded its first case of a worrying new COVID variant after it was detected in Belgium. It has previously been identified in other places including South Africa, Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel.
Britain has so far not reported any cases of the variant, but Javid earlier said it was highly likely it has now spread beyond southern Africa.
He warned the new strain could be more transmissible than the Delta variant and there is a "possibility it might have a different impact on individuals" who get the virus.
Britain registered 50,091 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 10,070,841, according to official figures released Friday.
It is the first time since Oct. 21 that new cases have been above 50,000.
The country also reported a further 160 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 144,593. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.
More than 88 percent of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 80 percent have received both doses, according to the latest figures. More than 29 percent have received booster jabs, or the third dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines. Enditem
