Srinagar, Dec 23: The new variant—501.V2— is “very different” to the fresh strain found in the UK—VUI-202012/01—but both appear to be more transmissible, warns Dr Susan Hopkins from Public Health England.
Both cases are contacts of people who traveled from South Africa over the last few weeks, Matt Hancock said in a Downing Street news conference.
It is thought the South African strain may be behind a record number of people being hospitalized in the country with COVID-19.