Two cases of new, “more transmissible” COVID-19 variant linked to South Africa have been identified in the UK, the health secretary has said.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said in a Downing Street news conference that both cases are contacts of people who travelled from South Africa over the last few weeks.
Both people with the new variant, and contacts of them, have been quarantined.
He added: “This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK.”
Mr Hancock said the government is “incredibly grateful to the South African government for the rigour of their science and the openness and the transparency with which they have rightly acted as we did when we discovered a new variant here”.