Mutated COVID variant reaches France

PARIS: France confirmed its first case of a new coronavirus variant that was recently identified in the UK, the French health ministry said in a statement. Experts believe the mutated version of the virus is around 70% more contagious.

The identification of this new variant, known as VOC202012/01, prompted more than 50 countries to impose restrictions on travel to the UK.

The infected man arrived in France from London on December 19. He is asymptomatic and isolating at home in the central city of Tours.

In addition to the first case, laboratories are analyzing tests from several other people who may have the new variant, the statement said. France has recently imposed a blockade on people traveling from the UK in a bid to limit the spread.

Although the officials lifted the snap measure after two days, the move stranded thousands of drivers in Dover.

Some limits on travel Between the UK and France remain in place in a bid to stop the new variant from spreading.

Elsewhere in Europe

In Germany, the country’s Association of Cities told people to lower expectations for the coronavirus vaccine in the short term — a day before Germany’s vaccination scheme is due to begin.

“It’s a start, but the specter of the dangerous coronavirus isn’t gone just yet,” the association’s president, Burkhard Jung, told the Funke Media Group in an interview. He added that mass vaccination was not yet feasible because there was “too little vaccine for that right now.”

On Saturday, Germany recorded another 14,455 coronavirus cases and the death toll rose by 240 to 29,422.

The first 9,750 vaccine doses have arrived in Greece. They were transported into Greece across the Bulgarian border in the north. A video showed the van carrying them escorted by six police cars.

Vaccinations will begin at five Athens hospitals on Sunday. Health personnel and elderly residents of nursing homes are first in line to be vaccinated.

Asia

Mainland China recorded 20 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, up from 14 cases the previous day, the country’s health authority said on Saturday.

The country’s National Health Commission said in its daily bulletin that 12 of the new cases were imported and eight were locally transmitted.