New coronavirus strain found in England as London faces tighter restrictions
- British health secretary says variant may be associated with rapid rise in infection levels, but there is no suggestion that it would not respond to vaccine
- WHO is looking into new strain, but says there is no evidence it behaves differently from existing types
More than 1,000 cases of a new variant of the coronavirus have been identified, mainly in southeast England, according to British Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who added that the variant may be associated with a rapid rise in infection levels in the area.
The government said on Monday that London will move into England’s highest tier of Covid-19 restrictions, citing an exponential rise in infection rates as one of the world’s richest cities struggles to contain the disease.
“Over the last week, we’ve seen very sharp, exponential rises in the virus across London, Kent, parts of Essex and Hertfordshire,” Hancock told the House of Commons in a statement, referring to counties near London.
“We do not know the extent to which this is because of the new variant, but no matter its cause, we have to take swift and decisive action,” he said, announcing that the entire capital and some neighbouring areas would go into “High Alert” level.
Hancock said there was currently nothing to suggest that the new strain was likely to cause more serious disease or that it would not respond to a vaccine.