Medical workers in protective suits stand outside a quarantined building amid the Covid-19 outbreak in Hanoi, Vietnam January 29, 2021. ― Reuters file picHANOI, May 29 ― Vietnam health minister Nguyen Thanh Long said today the country has detected a new variant of the coronavirus, a mix of the Indian and UK Covid-19 variants that spreads quickly by air, online newspaper VnExpress reported.
Nearly 3,600 people have been infected in 31 of its 63 cities and provinces since late April, accounting for more than half of the country's total infections. “More specifically, it is an Indian variant with mutations that originally belong to the UK variant,” he said. VnExpress quoted Long as saying Vietnam would announce the newly discovered variant to the world soon.