The World Health Organization on Thursday warned of a tipping point in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, amid growing fears over more infectious variants of the virus that have resulted in a surge of infections.
Countries are scrambling to contain variants found in the U.K. and South Africa that are significantly more transmissible, with public health experts anxious about the potential impact on inoculation efforts.
To be sure, while the variants spread more easily, there is no clear evidence of the mutated viruses being associated with more severe disease outcomes. But being more transmissible means more people can get infected, and this could mean more serious infections and more fatalities.
