UAE

Life and Living

World

Opinion

Business

Sports

Entertainment

Dubai World Cup

lifestyle

Travel

Reviews

Brands

Supplements

KT Events

KT APPDOWNLOAD

Type your keywords

New Covid strain 'not worse', vaccine 'effective against it: Saudi health minister

Riyadh - Dr Al Rabiah's optimism echoes that of BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin.

Read more...

By Web report

Published: Tue 22 Dec 2020, 2:16 AM

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Health Dr Tawfiq Al Rabiah said on Monday that the mutated strain of coronavirus is not worse than Covid-19, and the vaccine is effective against it.

“Studies are underway about the new variant of the virus and the Kingdom is closely following developments with regard to it. The Saudi leadership is keen to take all precautionary measures and prevent travel until the nature of the mutated strain of the virus is studied and its impact assessed,” he said, according to Saudi Gazette.

Advertising
Advertising

Also read: New Covid strain: Saudi Arabia suspends international flights and land and sea entry for a week

“If a person is infected with the mutated coronavirus, then it is similar to the known coronavirus, and the mutated strain is not worse than Covid-19, and the vaccine is effective to deal with it. This is one of the promising things,” he added.

Earlier this month, the Kingdom approved the use of the vaccine developed by US pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, becoming the second Gulf country to do so after Bahrain.

Dr Al Rabiah's optimism echoes that of BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin, who said on Monday he was confident a Covid-19 vaccine co-developed by his company would be effective against a variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in Britain.

Web report

Published: Tue 22 Dec 2020, 2:16 AM

Recommended for you