Kathmandu. A new variant of the coronavirus, Omicron, has been confirmed to have spread to 20 countries around the world by Wednesday morning.
Scientists at the World Health Organization say it will take another year to understand in detail the effects of the new variant.
As the virus spread to more countries, Nepal and its southern neighbor India have tightened international borders and flights, while flights to African countries have been banned.
So far, 77 cases have been reported in South Africa, 19 in Botswana, 14 in the United Kingdom, 14 in the Netherlands and 13 in Portugal.
One-to-one transmission has been confirmed in Germany, Italy, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Denmark, Israel, Japan, France, Czech Republic, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Spain and South Korea.
