Friday, 26 November, 2021
(BN) South Africa Working at ‘Lightning Speed’ on New Virus Vari
——————————————————————————-
This message may contain confidential or privileged information. If you are not
the intended recipient, please advise us immediately and delete this message.
The unauthorised use, disclosure, distribution and/or copying of this e-mail or
any information it contains is prohibited.
This information is not, and should not be construed as, a recommendation,
solicitation or offer to buy or sell any securities or related financial
products. This information does not constitute investment advice, does not
constitute a personal recommendation and has been prepared without regard to
the individual financial circumstances, needs or objectives of persons who
receive it.
2021-11-26 05:45:22.470 GMT
By Antony Sguazzin
(Bloomberg) — South African scientists are working “at
lightning speed” to ascertain how quickly the concerning new
coronavirus variant can spread and whether it is resistant to
Covid-19 vaccines.
Results will still take at least two weeks, Tulio de
Oliveira, a bio-informatics professor who runs gene-sequencing
institutions and advises the government on the pandemic, said by
phone on Friday. Institutions are breeding the virus and then
experimenting on it, he said, not just in South Africa but
around the world.
“I am very, very worried,” he said of the virus variant,
which has more mutations than earlier incarnations and has
already been detected in Botswana and Hong Kong.
While the variant has still only been identified in a
relatively small number of cases, the fears expressed by
scientists have reverberated around the world. The U.K. has
banned flights from South Africa and five neighboring countries
ahead of placing them on its so-called red list, which requires
hotel quarantine. Stocks, Treasury yields and oil all sank while
the rand weakened to a one-year low.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Arijit Ghosh at aghosh@bloomberg.net
John Bowker
https://blinks.bloomberg.com/news/stories/R35Z7OT0G1KX
