Fauci warns ‘more worrying’ strains of COVID-19 have emerged

Dr Anthony Fauci warned on Sunday that “more worrying” strains of COVID-19 have emerged in South Africa and Brazil.

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said they were examining the two new mutant variants “very carefully” in addition to a highly contagious one which was first detected in the UK.

“People have to realize that there is more than one mutant strain,” Fauci NBC host Chuck Todd told “Meet the Press”.

“There’s one from the UK that’s mostly dominated … There’s another, more worrying, South Africa and Brazil.”

Fauci said he didn’t want “people to panic” but to take the new strains “very seriously” and study them to fully understand the threat they pose.

“The British made it clear that [the strain detected there is] more contagious, ”Fauci said.

“They say it’s not more virulent. But, you know, we have to be careful because the more cases you get, even though on an individual basis it’s not more virulent, which means it doesn’t make you sicker or more likely to die, just by numbers only, the more cases you have, the more hospitalizations you are going to have. “

He said they are still determining whether these mutations would be resistant to vaccines on the market.

“What we really want to take a good look at is whether this mutation decreases the impact of the vaccine?” he said. “And if that’s the case, then we’re going to have to make some changes… We’re looking at that very carefully.”