These are the 3 new variants of the corona virus that the government is watching out for

ILLUSTRATION. The discovery of new strains of the corona virus in a number of countries sparked new anxiety in the world.

Source: Kompas.com | Editor: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie

KONTAN.CO.ID – JAKARTA. The discovery of new strains of the corona virus in a number of countries sparked new anxiety in the world. Even the UK and a number of other countries have been forced to re-implement lockdowns to prevent the spread of the new strain of the corona virus.
The government through the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) is currently focusing on monitoring 3 mutations of the corona virus that causes Covid-19.

The three virus mutations are B.1.1.7 from England, B.1.351 from Africa and P.1 from Brazil.

“So there are indeed three mutations that have been recommended by WHO to be our main concern, the first is of course B.1.1.7. Then we know there are 2 others from Africa and Brazil,” said Director of Direct Infectious Disease Prevention and Control of the Directorate General of P2P Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia. Tarmizi in a discussion entitled “Genomic Monitoring for New SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Indonesia”, Friday (12/3/2021).

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Currently, he added, there have been many virus mutations detected in Indonesia. However, the three mutations, according to him, are of the greatest concern to always be monitored.

Nadia explained that the current B.1.1.7 virus variant has been reported in 70 countries, while B.1.351 is currently being reported by 20 countries. Meanwhile, P.1 from Brazil has been reported in more than 30 countries.

The following is more clear about the three new variants of the corona virus and what are their characteristics:

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1. B.1.1.7

The new coronavirus variant, identified in the UK as B.1.1.7, first appeared in the UK in September 2020.

Although originating from the UK, cases of infection from B.1.1.7 are known to have been found in various countries, including the United States and Indonesia.

In January 2021, British scientists presented evidence that this strain had a more rapidly transmissible character and was judged to be associated with the increased mortality recorded in the country.

So far there has been no evidence that B.1.1.7 can increase disease severity or weaken vaccine efficacy. The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) itself said that two cases of the B.1.1.7 mutation were detected from Indonesian citizens who returned from Saudi Arabia.