The World Health Organization said Friday it would take "a few weeks" for researchers to understand the impact of the new Covid-19 variant B.1.1.529 detected in South Africa.

"Researchers are working to understand more about the mutations and what they potentially mean for how transmissible or virulent this variant is," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters, as WHO experts began a virtual meeting to determine whether B.1.1.529 should be classified as a variant of interest or of concern.

The outbreak of the new strain of the virus caused panic in many countries across the world. Some countries began to take precautionary measures to prevent the entry of the new strain to their territories.

Countries in Asia and Europe including Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy and the UK quickly imposed restrictions Friday after the emergence of a potentially vaccine-resistant COVID-19 variant was detected in South Africa.

The EU moved to halt air travel from the entire southern African region amid concerns over the newly detected South African variant, the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said.

She said the Commission will propose "to activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the southern African region" due to the emergence of the new variant.

According to the WHO, the variant, called B.1.1.529, has been detected in South Africa.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19 said “We don’t know very much about this yet. What we do know is that this variant has a large number of mutations. And the concern is that when you have so many mutations, it can have an impact on how the virus behaves.”

The South African scientist Tulio de Oliveira said in a media briefing hosted Thursday by the South African Department of Health that the new variant contains multiple mutations associated with increased antibody resistance, which may reduce the effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines, along with mutations that generally make it more contagious. However, other mutations in the new variant have not been seen until now, so scientists do not yet know whether they are significant or will change how the virus behaves, according to a presentation by the scientist .

The variant has spread rapidly through the Gauteng province.

The new variant was also found in Botswana, Hong Kong and the Israeli Occupation.