ZURICH/FRANKFURT — Drugmakers including BioNTech and Moderna are scrambling to test their COVID-19 vaccines against the new fast-spreading variant of the virus that is raging, in Britain, the latest challenge in the breakneck race to curb the pandemic.

Moderna expects immunity from its vaccine to protect against the variant and is performing more tests in coming weeks to confirm, the company said in a statement to CNN.

The mutation known as the B.1.1.7 lineage may be up to 70 percent more infectious and more of a concern for children.

It has sown chaos, in Britain, prompting a wave of travel bans that are disrupting trade with Europe and threatening to further isolate the island country.

An expert said that there are nine mutations on the virus.

In the event that the variant presents vaccine developers with an unexpected challenge, an advantage of mRNA is that scientists can quickly re-engineer genetic material in the shot to match that of the mutated protein, whereas modifying traditional vaccines would require extra steps.

On the other hand, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday it will convene a meeting of members to discuss strategies to counter the mutation, according to Reuters. — SPA