More countries are tightening their travel restrictions after the discovery of a new coronavirus variant in South Africa earlier this week.

More countries are tightening their travel restrictions after the discovery of a new coronavirus variant in South Africa earlier this week.

The UK, Singapore and Japan are among those rushing in stricter quarantine measures and banning flights from South Africa and neighbouring countries.

The EU is proposing to ban flights from the region across the whole bloc.

Scientists still have much to learn about the variant, but there are concerns it may be the worst yet.

It is still so new to scientists, they are yet to give it a more memorable name, like Delta or Beta. Right now, it is known as B.1.1.529, but the World Health Organization (WHO) is expected to name it on Friday.

It is very different to the other variants discovered so far, and is the most heavily mutated version, which means vaccines, which were designed using the original strain from Wuhan, may not be as effective.

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