As of December 24, 2020, new strains of the coronavirus had been detected in the UK, Europe's second most infected country, South Africa, Africa's most infected country, and Nigeria, where cases have increased by 52 percent in the past week.   

Scientists said the strains evolved separately, but two recent cases in London with a new variant are both contacts of people who had recently been in South Africa. 

So, what do we know about these new coronavirus variants? Are they more dangerous? Will they blunt the vaccines that have only just brought hope to the world? 

In this episode of Answer Bank, CGTN's Ge Ning explains everything you should know about the new coronavirus variants.  

(Produced by Ge Ning, Anosi Wang, John Goodrich and Fu Gaoliang)