The capital London was closed after the emergence of a highly contagious variant of the New Coronavirus in the United Kingdom, a move that sparked panic and a travel ban on the country in Europe. However, the World health Organization (WHO) said this is a part of the evolution of the epidemic and there is no need to worry too much.
Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s public health emergency plan, said in an online briefing, “We have to find a balance, transparency is important, it’s important to explain to the public what’s going on, but it’s equally important to clearly explain that this is a natural process of virus evolution.”
Ryan added, “To be able to track the virus so closely, carefully and scientifically in the first place is a really positive development for global public health, and these countries that can do this type of surveillance should be commended.”
Citing relevant data from the U.K., WHO officials said there is no evidence that the variant virus makes host symptoms more severe or is more deadly than the current mainstream strain, although the virus does appear to be more transmissible when it varies.
Lane noted that countries introduced travel bans to the U.K. out of extreme caution, “out of an abundance of caution and, more importantly, everyone must be cognizant that virus mutations just happen.”
WHO officials also said that the variants of the new coronavirus that have emerged in the U.K. so far have mutated more slowly than the flu virus and are not nearly as transmissible as the mumps.
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