Health workers carry the body of a man, who died of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), from an ambulance to bury him in a cemetery in New Delhi, India, on April 16, 2021 REUTERS / Danish Siddiqui
British health officials are investigating a variant of COVID-19 native to India, but they do not yet have enough evidence to classify it as a variant of concern, Susan Hopkins of Public Health England (PHE) said on Sunday.
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr TV Show, Hopkins said: “We still don’t have enough data on this variant to be able to clarify if it’s a variant that worries us. We’ve put it as an investigated variant.” .
“To increase the rating, we need to know that it increases transmissibility, increases the severity or evades the vaccine, and we don’t have it yet, but we’re looking at the data on a daily basis.”
PHE has said it has identified 77 cases of the variant in Britain.
Earlier, Environment Minister George Eustice said Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s trip to India later this month should go ahead despite the increase in cases in the country.
“It’s important that business and policy business, if you will, continue,” he said, adding that a committee of experts periodically reviews decisions on whether to allow travel to certain countries.
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