New coronavirus 'variant of concern' declared

A new coronavirus variant has been designated a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organisation.

The new variant, first reported by South Africa, has a spike protein that's dramatically different from the one in the original 2020 coronavirus. It could be weeks before it's known whether vaccines will be effective against it.

Also in the programme, the human cost of this week's migrant boat disaster off the coast of France and the diplomatic row that is brewing between Paris and the UK, the BBC's Yalda Hakim remarks on the changes that have been seen in Afghanistan as it marked 100 days of Taliban rule, and analysis of Germany's new “traffic-light coalition” between the Social Democrats, the Greens, and the liberal Free Democrats.

Joining Paul Henley to discuss these and other issues are Michaela Kuefner, chief political editor of Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international TV channel, and Simon Robinson, global managing editor for the news publisher, Reuters.

(Picture shows a black health worker wearing a face mask as he walks past a taxi in Soweto, South Africa on 26 November 2021. Credit: REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko).