Fauci receives vaccine while US health officials notice new virus strain in UK | News about the coronavirus pandemic

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the world’s leading infectious disease expert, received the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday as health officials try to allay fears about a new highly transmissible variant of coronavirus in the United Kingdom .

Reports of the new virus variant in England have led to closure before Christmas and caused dozens of countries to close their borders for travel to the UK this week, although the European Union on Tuesday advised members to give up large closures to allow some trips.

But the US government does not intend to impose COVID-19 projections on passengers traveling from the UK, Reuters news sources said.

Members of the White House coronavirus task force have argued the need for pre-flight negative tests after a meeting Monday, but the Trump administration has decided not to take any action yet, people said.

A medical worker collects a swab sample at the COVID-19 test center at Duesseldorf airport, as EU countries impose a travel ban in the UK following the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) [Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters]

Canada is implementing improved measures to examine travelers from the UK, including those arriving from other nations, its public safety minister said on Tuesday.

The three airlines operating flights from London to John F Kennedy International Airport – British Airways, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic – have voluntarily agreed to a request from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to allow them to fly only passengers with negative results.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee on Monday ordered passengers arriving from Britain, South Africa or other “countries with a new potentially more contagious COVID-19 variant” to be quarantined for 14 days after arriving in his state.

“This common sense measure will protect Washingtonians in our fight against COVID-19,” Inslee said on Twitter.

The death toll in the United States exceeds 320,000

News of the coronavirus mutation comes as the US faces an increase in new infections, which support hospitals in some states. The death toll in the United States rose to 320,000 on Tuesday, a day after the total number of infections rose to 18 million, according to a Johns Hopkins University report.

Some US health officials on Tuesday tried to allay fears about the new variation in the virus, saying it should be monitored, but its discovery should not be a cause for despair.

U.S. Secretary of Health Alex Azar told Fox News on Tuesday that Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which received US emergency permits this month, should be effective in preventing diseases from the newly discovered version of the virus. He also said that it does not seem to have different physical effects on individuals.

Moderna and BioNTech, which worked with Pfizer Inc. to develop the vaccine, are struggling to test their photos against the variant, but have expressed confidence in them.

“From a scientific point of view, it is very likely that the immune response of this vaccine can also cope with this variant of the virus,” Ugur Sahin, executive director of BioNTech, told reporters.

More than 600,000 Americans, mostly health workers, have received the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine since Monday, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some states began vaccinating residents of long-term care units on Monday.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, who received the Moderna vaccine on Tuesday, said surveillance was needed to monitor the spread of the British variant, but officials should not overreact.

“Travel bans are pretty draconian to do,” Fauci told ABC News.

Together with Fauci, Azar and the head of the National Institute of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, threw their sleeves for the film from Moderna on live television on Tuesday.

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