COVID-19: WHO confirms no new strain of virus found in Vietnam

World Thursday 03/June/2021 18:25 PM
By: Times News Service
COVID-19: WHO confirms no new strain of virus found in Vietnam

Muscat: The World Health Organisation has confirmed that no new strain of the Coronavirus has been discovered in Vietnam.

"The World Health Organisation (WHO) clarified that there is currently no hybrid strain in Vietnam, days after the Vietnamese Ministry of Health announced that it had detected a new strain of the Coronavirus that combines the characteristics of the alpha and delta strains," said a statement by Oman News Agency (ONA).

The WHO indicated that the newly discovered strain is a delta strain that was first discovered in India, but with additional mutations that require further observation before determining whether they represent a threat or not.

The statement added, "It is worth noting that Vietnam had been praised for its handling of the pandemic, but after a month of no infection cases, they appeared again on April 27, 2021 and more than 4,500 cases have been recorded since then. Vietnam has officially recorded 7,972 cases and 49 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic."