Vietnam detects a suspected new coronavirus variant that's a hybrid of the UK and India strains

Vietnam's health ministry has detected a suspected new coronavirus variant which it said appears to be a hybrid of two highly transmissible strains.

"A new coronavirus variant with characteristics from the existing Indian and UK variants had been detected in Vietnam for the first time," Vietnam's Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long told a national news conference Saturday. The Southeast Asian country was held up as a leading example in containing the virus thanks to an aggressive strategy of early screening of passengers at airports and a strict quarantine and monitoring program.