No new COVID-19 strains detected in Ukraine yet – WHO representative

World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Ukraine Jarno Habicht says new strains of COVID-19 have not been detected in this country yet.

Speaking in a comment for the Ukrainian ICTV channel, he said it was impossible to conduct respective tests locally, and thus several samples had been sent from Ukraine to a sequencing center and the results would be known soon after.

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• In December 2020, a new COVID-19 strain was recorded in the United Kingdom. In this regard, quarantine curbs were introduced in London and the southeast of England. Later it became known another new COVID-19 variant had been found in the UK.
• Many countries have suspended air travel with that country.
• Ukraine's Health Ministry calls on Ukrainians to refrain from traveling to the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Australia, where cases of the new COVID-19 strain have already been recorded.
• British scientists predict the new variant, VOC 202012/0, is 56% more infectious than previously known, which could cause a mortality hike.