The UK has detected a new variation of Covid-19 that the English chief medical officer says is more contagious than previous variants.
Professor Chris Whitty says urgent work is being done to rule out whether the new strain, prevalent in the south-east of England, could cause a higher mortality rate.
“There is no current evidence to indicate that the new strain will cause a higher mortality rate or affect vaccines and treatments, although urgent work is being done to confirm this,” it said in a statement.
This is what we know best.
What do we know about the variant:
- UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the new variant could be up to 70% more transmissible than the old variant, although there is still “considerable uncertainty”.
Where detected:
- The World Health Organization says the new variant has also been identified in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia.
- Australia said on Monday it had detected two cases of the new variant at Australian quarantine facilities.
What other countries do in response:
- More than a dozen countries ban travel from the UK in response to the new variant.
- These countries include the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
- Other countries are imposing restrictions: the Czech Republic has imposed a mandatory ten-day quarantine on anyone arriving from the UK.