The World Health Organization is aware of a new variant of COVID-19 that has emerged in Britain, but there is no evidence the strain behaves differently to existing types of the virus, it said on Monday.
“We are aware of this genetic variant reported in 1,000 individuals in England,” the WHO’s top emergencies expert Mike Ryan told a news briefing in Geneva. “Authorities are looking at its significance. We have seen many variants, this virus evolves and changes over time.”
UK’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs in the House of Commons at least 60 different local authorities in London had recorded Covid infections caused by the new variant.