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B.1.1.529 Covid variant ‘most worrying we’ve seen’, says top UK medical adviser

Dr Susan Hopkins said R value of variant first found in Gauteng, South Africa, is now 2

Haroon Siddique
Fri 26 Nov 2021 10.01 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/26/b11529-covid-variant-most-worrying-weve-seen-says-top-uk-medical-adviser

The chief medical adviser to the UK Health and Security Agency has warned that a newly identified Covid-19 variant in southern Africa is the “most worrying we’ve seen”, with transmission levels not recorded since the beginning of the pandemic.

Dr Susan Hopkins said the R value, or effective reproduction number, of the B.1.1.529 variant in Gauteng in South Africa, where it was first found, is now 2. For an R of anything above 1, an epidemic will grow exponentially.

She voiced her concerns as the European Commission announced plans to stop flights from the southern Africa region. England and Scotland said
on Thursday they were banning flights from six countries in the region.
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