German health minister Jens Spahn said the new strain has 'no impact' on the current jabs.
Jens Spahn said European experts believe the jabs will be just as effective against the new strain (Picture: AFP)

Current Covid-19 vaccines will still be effective against the new fast-spreading strain of the virus, according to EU experts.

Germany’s health minister, Jens Spahn, told broadcaster ZDF that ‘according to everything we know so far’ the new strain ‘has no impact on the vaccines’ which will remain ‘just as effective’. He said the information emerged following a EU experts’ meeting on Sunday in Berlin.

In a statement, the French Government supported this claim, saying: ‘This genetic variant does not seem to entail, at this stage of knowledge, a heightened seriousness or a resistance to the vaccine.’

Mr Spahn was referring in particular to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which the NHS started rolling out early this month. The jab has also been approved in the US and is on the brink of receiving approval from the European Medicines Agency.

It comes after Boris Johnson said on Saturday the variant could be up to 70% more infectious than the main strain – but the French Government said this ‘has not been demonstrated at this stage’.

Volunteers take part in a test run of the vaccination facility as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Hanau, Germany, December 10, 2020.
Volunteers take part in a test run of the vaccination facility as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in Hanau, Germany (Picture: REUTERS)

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said nine cases have been detected in Denmark, while the Netherlands and Australia had confirmed one each.

Italy said late on Sunday that it too had detected a single case in a person returning from Britain.

Germany, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, has organised an urgent meeting of experts on Monday to discuss the bloc’s response to the new threat, a health ministry spokesman said.

The meeting will be held under the European Council’s IPCR crisis response scheme, which can be invoked for health, environmental or terrorist emergencies among others.

A number of EU countries have already banned air travel from Britain in response to the new strain.

People at St Pancras station in London, waiting to board the last train to Paris today, amid concerns that borders will close and with the public being urged to adhere to Government guidance
Caption: People at St Pancras station in London, waiting to board the last train to Paris today, amid concerns that borders will close (Picture: PA)

France, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Belgium all imposed restrictions on Sunday, after Mr Johnson introduced tougher tier four measures in London and several parts of the south east.

The health secretary said the new mutant strain of Covid is ‘out of control’ and the 18 million people now in tier four restrictions should act like they have it.

Dr Susan Hopkins, of Public Health England, warned the new variant had already spread to Wales, Scotland and other parts of England.

She said that while many regions had cases of the new strain, these were in much smaller numbers than in London, Kent and parts of Essex.

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