A newly discovered coronavirus strain with a significant number of mutations has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to convene a special emergency meeting, set to discuss how to address the evolved variant.
The global health body’s technical head on Covid-19, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, announced the upcoming meeting on Thursday during a livestreamed Q&A session, saying experts would gather Friday to talk about the new strain, dubbed B.1.1.529, which has now been detected in South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong.
“Our technical advisory group on virus evolution is discussing this with our colleagues in South Africa,” Van Kerkhove said of the new variant, adding “We’re also meeting again tomorrow.”
We’re calling a special meeting to discuss this, not to cause alarm, but just because we have the system in place, we can bring these scientists together and discuss ‘what does it mean?’
