Authorities in Vietnam have detected a new coronavirus variant that is a combination of the variants that were first detected in India and the UK, and spreads quickly by air.
After successfully containing the virus for most of last year, Vietnam is now grappling with a rise in infections since late April, that accounts for more than half of the total registered cases
The Southeast Asian country had previously detected seven virus variants including the ones first detected in UK, South Africa, Brazil. Authorities are likely to soon publish genome data of the newly identified variant, which is reportedly more transmissible than the previously known types.