FTSE 100 tumbles as Covid variant fears hit markets – business live | Business
A share prices board in Tokyo today Photograph: Yoshio Tsunoda/AFLO/REX/Shutterstock
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Financial markets have been rattled by the emergence of the worst Covid-19 variant yet identified.
Stocks have fallen sharply in Asia-Pacific markets, the oil price has dropped, and European markets are expected to open sharply lower too.
The variant, called B.1.1.529, contains an “extremely high number” of mutations, which could help it evade the body’s immune response, scientists have said.
Those mutations mean that its spike protein looks different from the version that vaccines were designed to target.
Last night, England imposed travel restrictions on six Southern…
