Hassan Says Panel to Discuss New Coronavirus Strain Monday

Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan announced Sunday that the country’s scientific and ministerial committee will discuss the issue of the emergence of a new coronavirus strain in Britain during its meeting on Monday.

“No matter how much the coronavirus transformation might be significant and as we wait for the new scientific information, be it a mutation or a strain, commitment to precautionary behavior remains the permanent route of salvation, and it will be the focus of the discussions of our scientific ministerial panel tomorrow,” Hassan tweeted.

European countries banned flights from the UK on Sunday and the WHO called for stronger containment measures as the British government warned that a potent new strain of the virus was "out of control."

Scientists first discovered the new variant -- which they believe is 70 percent more transmissible -- in a patient in September. And Public Health England notified the government on Friday when modelling revealed the full seriousness of the new strain.

But Britain's chief medical officer Chris Whitty pointed out that while the new strain was greatly more infectious, "there is no current evidence to suggest (it) causes a higher mortality rate or that it affects vaccines and treatments, although urgent work is underway to confirm this."