World Health Organisation (WHO ) says, there is no evidence thus far the COVID-19 mutant is more likely to cause severe disease or mortality. "In the past few days, there have been reports of new variants of the COVID-19 virus in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Viruses mutate over time; that's natural and expected," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. WHO is working with scientists to understand how these genetic changes affect how the virus behaves and the bottom line is that we need to suppress transmission of all SARS-CoV-2 viruses as quickly as we can, he said.

 "Safe and effective vaccines give us optimism, but they are not an excuse for people to let down their guard and put themselves and their loved ones at risk. Now is the time to double down on the public health basics that have seen many countries suppress the virus effectively. There are a number of groups that continue to push a narrative that this virus only affects the old, and that with vaccines on the horizon we can relax. COVID-19 affects children and adults in a variety of ways, and it can attack every system in the body. And a growing number of people suffer with long-term consequences of the virus. This includes neurological complications for children and adults, which are still being researched," Ghebreyesus said.

The COVAX Facility - which is backed by 190 countries and economies - has secured access to nearly two billion doses of promising vaccine candidates.

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