Fauci: Mutant coronavirus strain must be taken ‘very seriously’

Anthony FauciAnthony FauciTSA selected 1.1 million travelers the day after Christmas Saudi Arabia to allow outbound international flights for foreign nationals in December, the deadliest month of COVID-19 pandemic., the country’s leading expert on infectious diseases, said on Sunday that people should take the more contagious strain of the coronavirus that originated in the south-east of England very seriously.

Fauci, who has discouraged direct flights from the UK, discouraged saying in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” that US officials rightly need proof of negative coronavirus tests for anyone entering the country from Britain.

Public health officials are examining the new strain “now very intensively”, including questions such as: “Does it make anyone sicker? Is it more serious in the sense of virulence? And the answer is that it does not look like that.”

Fauci added that although their British counterparts expressed confidence that existing vaccines would be equally effective against the new strain, “we are going to do the studies ourselves,” according to the AP.

‘We get isolates of it, make a combination of viruses, to be able to test directly, get sera from people we vaccinated, and see if it still neutralizes the new strain, this mutant strain that comes from the UK as well as than from South Africa, ”he added. “There is a similar, but not quite the same type of mutation that we see in South Africa.”

Fauci declined to say whether it was a mistake not to require earlier negative tests from British travelers, CNN said Dana BashDana Bash Incoming members of the Democratic House bypass questions about voting for Pelosi as speaker Legislators urge Trump to sign a stimulus funding package as government closure threatens GOP legislator calls Trump’s election fraud“Of course, I think the step is to put some form of restriction on travel, and that it can be restricted to block travel completely, and it was decided not to do that.”

“But I think it’s wise and a good idea to do some form of testing, and not leave anyone on the plane from the UK unless they have a documented COVID-19 test,” he said. added.

.Source