WHO rules out new 'hybrid' COVID variant in Vietnam

A coronavirus variant which Vietnam authorities thought was a combination of the Indian and U.K. strains is not a new hybrid but part of the existing Indian strain, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative in Vietnam told Nikkei.

“There is no new hybrid variant in Vietnam at this moment based on WHO definition,” Kidong Park said in an online interview with the newspaper, adding that it was within the delta variation that originated in India.

Last month, Vietnam’s state media reported that the country has discovered a new Covid-19 variant which spreads quickly by air and is a combination of the Indian and British strains.

“We have discovered a new hybrid variant from the Indian and the UK strains,” Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long was quoted telling a national meeting on the pandemic.

“The characteristic of this strain is that it spreads quickly in the air. The concentration of virus in the throat fluid increases rapidly and spreads very strongly to the surrounding environment.”

He did not specify the number of cases recorded with this new variant but said Vietnam will soon announce the discovery in the world’s map of genetic strains.

There were seven known coronavirus variants in Vietnam before Long’s announcement, according to the Ministry of Health.