"The number of new infections has decreased. That gives us hope. But the virus mutation carries a great danger. Now is the time to prevent this danger," Chancellor Merkel said as she announced the new measures.
Three new variants of COVID-19 have been detected in recent weeks, leading to increased vigilance across the world as officials say a variant found in the United Kingdom could be up to 70 percent more transmissible.
However, none of the variants so far has been found to be more fatal, or more likely to be able to evade vaccines or treatments.
A new variant was first reported in the United Kingdom on December 14. Named VUI-202012/01 (the first Variant Under Investigation in December 2020), it is thought to have first appeared in mid-September.
Referred to by some experts as the B117 lineage, this has rapidly become the dominant strain in cases of COVID-19 in many parts of the UK.
ISLAMABAD: Three new variants of the coronavirus have been detected in recent weeks, spreading to at least 13 countries worldwide.The detection of new variants has led to increased vigilance across.
The UK was the first country to report the new variant of the coronavirus back in September.
Earlier this month, the country s health minister Matt Hancock said the new variant was getting out of control, prompting the government to put millions of people under stricter lockdown measures and a host of countries to block travel from the UK.
2. The Netherlands Medical personnel wearing full protective suits treat a patient infected with the coronavirus in the ICU at Maastricht UMC+ Hospital in the Netherlands on November 10, 2020. Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters
The Netherlands was one of the first European countries after the UK to announce that it found the new virus variant.