There are 4 000 variants of virus that causes Covid-19, UK minister says
There are around 4 000 variants of the virus that causes Covid-19 around the world now so all vaccine manufacturers including Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca Plc are trying to improve their vaccines, a British minister said.
Thousands of variants of the type of coronavirus that causes Covid-19 have been documented as the virus mutates, including the so-called British, South African and Brazilian variants which appear to spread more swiftly than others.
"Its very unlikely that the current vaccine won't be effective on the variants whether in Kent or other variants especially when it comes to severe illness and hospitalisation," Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News.
"All manufacturers, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca and others are looking at how they can improve their vaccine to make sure that we are ready for any variant - there are about 4 000 variants around the world of Covid now."
While thousands of variants have arisen as the virus mutates on replication, only a very small minority are likely to be important and to change the virus in an appreciable way, according to the British Medical Journal.
Reuters
Australia puts 500 tennis players, staff into coronavirus isolation
More than 500 tennis players and officials were ordered into isolation in the Australian city of Melbourne on Thursday as authorities reintroduced coronavirus restrictions after a worker at a quarantine hotel tested positive for the virus.
The city reimposed an order for masks indoors and a limit on gatherings of 15 people after the state's run of 28 days with no new local cases came to an end.
Melbourne, Australia's second-biggest city, is preparing to host the Australian Open tennis tournament from Monday but play at six warm-up events was heavily disrupted by the new infection with organisers Tennis Australia calling off all matches for Thursday.
The case of the infected Grand Hyatt worker was announced late on Wednesday and Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters an initial round of tests had found no new cases.
The Australian Open was likely to go ahead though "there were no guarantees", he said.
"At this stage, the tennis shouldn't be impacted by this. These things can change. Every Victorian knows these are uncertain times," Andrews told a news conference.
Reuters
Three patients, doctor die in Ukraine Covid hospital fire
Three intensive care patients and a ward doctor died overnight in a fire a hospital treating coronavirus cases in Zaporizhzhya, southeastern Ukraine, the region's governor said on Thursday.
Oleksander Starukh said the fire broke out on the first floor of the hospital where patients were on ventilators. He said eight other patients unit were evacuated.
He said the cause of the fire was being investigated.
Ukraine has registered more 1.2 million coronavirus cases with 23 229 deaths.
Reuters
Kuwait bans entry for non-citizens, Saudi Arabia cancels events
Kuwait said on Wednesday it will suspend entry for non-citizens for two weeks from 7 February after a rise in coronavirus cases, while neighbouring Saudi Arabia suspended entertainment activities and dine-in services at restaurants.
The Kuwait cabinet, in a statement, said first-degree relatives, such as parents and children, and accompanying domestic workers would be exempt from the entry ban, and that all those arriving in the country would have to quarantine.
It ordered the closure of gyms and salons and asked other commercial businesses to cease operating at 8:00 pm, with the exception of pharmacies, supermarkets and other food stores.
Saudi Arabia this week suspended entry to the kingdom from 20 countries, with the exception of Saudi citizens, diplomats, and medical practitioners and their families.
The Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement early on Thursday that entertainment activities and events as well as in-restaurant dining would be suspended for 10 days, open to renewal.
Reuters
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