This is the first confirmed case of a variant B.1.1.529 called “Nu” in Europe.
It was in Belgium that it was detected.
“We have a now confirmed case of this variant.
This is someone who came from abroad.
Which tested positive on November 22.
He was not vaccinated, ”Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said on Friday, calling for people to avoid panic.
It was the Catholic University of Louvain and its Dutch-speaking hospital that discovered this new mutation of Covid-19.
His virologist Marc Van Ranst announced it on Twitter.
In Belgium, one sample was confirmed as the novel B.1.1.529 variant (in a returning traveler from Egypt (11/11); first symptoms on 22/11).
- Marc Van Ranst (@vanranstmarc) November 26, 2021
According to RTBF, it is a young woman “who developed symptoms 11 days after traveling to Egypt via Turkey.
It had no connection with South Africa, nor any other country in the south of the African continent.
The patient had a high viral load at the time of diagnosis.
She was not vaccinated, nor had she been infected in the past ”.
She suffered from flu-like symptoms but was not severely affected.
His relatives have not yet developed the disease.
They will of course be tested and monitored.
Reported in Botswana and Hong Kong
This variant B.1.1.529 has no less than 32 mutations on the Spike protein.
This makes some scientists fear a lower efficacy of vaccines, even if there is a lack of solid data.
Its first detection was announced Thursday in South Africa.
Scientists from this country had already discovered the Delta variant.
This “Nu” variant detected in South Africa has also been reported in Botswana and Hong Kong as well as in Israel.
Read also After Delta, should we fear even more dangerous variants?
Several European countries, including France, decided on Friday to suspend flights from southern Africa, other nations, such as Japan, establishing a quarantine.
The European Commission was to propose Friday to member states to activate the emergency brake to interrupt air travel from southern Africa.
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