Vietnam identifies new, highly transmissible, coronavirus variant

Vietnam has detected a new, highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus, the Vietnamese Health Ministry announced Saturday. 

The variant, which is believed to have spurred a recent wave of COVID-19 infections in the country, has a mix of characteristics from both the strains first found in the United Kingdom and India, according to VnExpress, an international newspaper. 

Specifically, Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said the new variant is a version of the one first found in India with mutations that originally belonged to the U.K. variant, according to the news outlet. 

The new variant is highly contagious when spread through the air, and Long said viral cultures revealed the virus was able to replicate very quickly.

"The Ministry of Health would announce the new coronavirus variant on the global genome map," Long said, according to VnExpress. The variant has yet to be named. ...

It remains unclear if a vaccine will stand up to the new variant announced by health officials in Vietnam.