Vietnam has detected a new variant of the coronavirus, which is a mix of the Indian and UK COVID-19 variants, reported Reuters quoting an online newspaper VnExpress.

According to the report, Vietnam’s Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said the new variant spreads quickly by air.

Though the Southeast Asian country successfully contained the coronavirus last year, it is now battling an outbreak that is spreading more quickly.

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Since late April, over 3,600 people have been infected in 31 of its 63 cities and provinces.

“After running gene sequencing on newly detected patients, we have discovered a new variant that is a mix of India and UK ones,” Nguyen Thanh Long was quoted as saying.

He added that Indian variant with mutations was dominant in the new variant. VnExpress quoted Long as saying Vietnam would announce the newly discovered variant to the world soon.

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The Southeast Asian nation had earlier reported seven virus variants, including B.1.222, B.1.619, D614G, B.1.1.7, B.1.351, A.23.1 and B.1.617.2.

According to the report, the new variant replicates itself very quickly, explaining why so many new cases appeared in different locations in a short period.

Vietnam has reported 6,396 coronavirus cases since the outbreak of the deadly virus in 2019 and over 40 people have lost their lives due to the deadly virus.