According to the data from the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population (MoHSPP), 37 new officially confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) were reported in Tajikistan yesterday, bringing a total number of the officially confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country to 12,960 as of the morning of December 21.
The number of coronavirus-linked deaths remains the same in the country – 89, a MoHSPP says.
12,413 (95.8 percent) coronavirus patients have reportedly recovered in the country as of the mooring of December 21.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Tajikistan is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus was confirmed to have spread to Tajikistan when its index cases, in Dushanbe and Khujand, were confirmed on April 30, 2020.
The coronavirus COVID-19 is reportedly affecting 218 countries and territories around the world and two international conveyances.
Meanwhile, the highly infectious variant of coronavirus that has emerged in south-east England is spreading rapidly to the rest of the UK and is already present elsewhere in the world, scientists warned on Sunday, according to Financial Times.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said its Evolution Working Group is working closely with the UK medical authorities to understand how the variant, now called B.1.1.7, is likely to affect the course of the pandemic. It has reportedly been detected in the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia.
Scientists say two aspects of B.1.1.7 give cause for concern. One is the unprecedented number of mutations it carries. The other is the speed with which it is supplanting other strains of the Sars-Cov-2 virus in south-east England.
Euronews says a host of the UK's European neighbors have banned travel from the country due to a new more infectious strain of coronavirus that has spread rapidly across England and Wales. As other European countries continue to deliberate on bringing in similar measures, France, Germany, Ireland, and Italy are among the countries to have announced bans of varying lengths.
The EU Council is expected to discuss coordinating the EU response to the COVID-19 variant in the UK today morning.
