The B1617 Covid19 variant is spreading worldwide at frightening speed and could aggravate the pandemic particularly in countries with low vaccination rates according to the latest assessment of the virus by experts here
And this will not be the last time that the virus mutates, the experts added.
Professor Teo Yik Ying, dean of the National University of Singapore s (NUS) Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, told The Straits Times on Saturday (May 29): What is frightening is the speed at which this variant is able to spread and circulate widely within the community, often surpassing the capability of contact-tracing units to track and isolate exposed contacts to break the transmission chains. It has the potential to unleash a bigger pandemic storm than the world has previously seen.
B1617 has mutated to spread more easily from person to person, and may dampen the protection conferred by vaccines as well as natural infection, though only slightly, experts say.
A fresh wave of Covid-19 infections is sweeping the globe, with several countries in the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, getting badly hit.. Read more at straitstimes.com.
SINGAPORE - A fresh wave of Covid-19 infections is sweeping the globe, with several countries in the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines getting badly hit. Singapore has not been spared. In the fortnight till May 26, it has seen between 19 and 38 new community cases diagnosed each day - compared with the one to 16 cases a.