Belgium health officials confirmed that a case of the new heavily mutated variant of the coronavirus had been detected in the country. The infected individual was reportedly a traveler who had arrived in the country from Egypt earlier in the month.

The Rega Institute for Medical Research confirmed that it had detected the new B.1.1.529 variant in the patient, who had shown symptoms of the disease on Nov. 22. Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke confirmed that the infected patient was unvaccinated.

According to the World Health Organization, the new variant was found in a small number of samples in South Africa. On Friday morning, there were other indications that cases had been discovered in Israel and Hong Kong.

During a briefing hosted by the South African Department of Health on Thursday, scientist Tulio de Oliveira revealed the B.1.1.529 variety includes 30 changes to the spike protein that permits the virus to enter the body. The new strain includes around 50 changes in all, with 10 of them in the receptor-binding domain, which is the component of the virus that comes into contact with cells first.

The extremely infectious delta variant, which accounts for 99% of COVID-19 cases worldwide, contains only two changes in the receptor-binding domain.

Many of these changes, according to health experts, might contribute to greater antibody resistance and transmissibility, decreasing the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccinations. The WHO held a conference on Friday to see how the new variety would influence COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.

The executive body of the European Union advised on Friday that all 27 member nations halt travel to and from southern Africa. Flights from six countries in the region have already been blocked, while France and Italy have implemented their own temporary travel bans on southern Africa.

Singapore has also prohibited flights from southern Africa, while Japan has tightened border procedures for visitors from the region.