Vietnam says the new strain of coronavirus behind its ominous COVID-19 spike is 3 times more contagious – By Bill Bostock (Business Insider) / August 3 2020
- Vietnam says the new strain of coronavirus behind its recent spike in cases is three times more infectious.
- Each patient has been found to infect between five and six people on average, compared to a rate of 1.8 to 2.2 infections per patient as seen before, health minister Nguyen Thanh Long said Sunday.
- The strain is new to Vietnam, but has been seen in the British Isles and Bangladesh before.
- The latest outbreak, first found in Da Nang on July 25, ended the country’s 99-day streak of no new cases. Two hundred new cases have been found since, along with all six of the country’s deaths.
- Vietnam has previously admitted that its health system could not cope with a mass outbreak.
Authorities in Vietnam say the new strain of coronavirus responsible for the recent spike in infections is three times more contagious than its predecessor.
Nguyen Thanh Long, the country’s health minister, said on Sunday that those infected with the new strain infect between five and six people on average, Reuters reported.
In contrast, those infected with with the original strain of COVID-19, which arrived in Vietnam in late January, infect on average between 1.8 and 2.2 people, he said.
While the strain is new in Vietnam, it has been seen before in Bangladesh, Britain and Ireland, according to Vietnamese scientists.
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