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British prime minister Boris Johnson is holding emergency talks with cabinet ministers as scientists confirmed that the new variant coronavirus was spreading more rapidly.
The move comes amid reports that the Mr Johnson could order new travel restrictions for southeast England in an attempt to stop it spreading to the rest of the country.
Prof Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, said the UK had now informed the World Health Organisation that it had concluded the mutant strain could spread more quickly.
“As announced on Monday, the UK has identified a new variant of Covid-19 through Public Health England’s genomic surveillance,” he said in a statement.
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“As a result of the rapid spread of the new variant, preliminary modelling data and rapidly rising incidence rates in the South East, the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) now consider that the new strain can spread more quickly.
“We have alerted the World Health Organisation and are continuing to analyse the available data to improve our understanding.
“There is no current evidence to suggest the new strain causes a higher mortality rate or that it affects vaccines and treatments although urgent work is under way to confirm this,” Prof Whitty said.
“Given this latest development it is now more vital than ever that the public continue to take action in their area to reduce transmission.”
Following the lunchtime conference call with ministers, Mr Johnson will hold a press conference with Prof Whitty and the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance.
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt warned the situation was on a “knife-edge” with infections rising and hospital admissions on the increase.
The latest development comes after Mr Johnson refused to rule out a third national lockdown for England — a move he has previously been deeply reluctant to contemplate.
Wales and Northern Ireland have already announced fresh lockdowns once Christmas is over while the Scottish government has said the option “remains on the table”.
Much of the the latest focus is on the south and east of England where the new variant is thought to be most prevalent.
On Friday, the NHS in Kent announced it was suspending non-urgent hospital procedures, saying it was treating double the number of patients it had at the peak of the first wave in April.
Latest figures from the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) showed the R number for the UK was estimated to have risen to between 1.1 and 1.2 — which means the disease is growing again.
At the same time, there are concerns about a possible upward spike in cases as rules on households mixing are relaxed over the Christmas period.
On Friday, a further 339 people who tested positive for coronavirus died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 46,122, NHS England said on Saturday.
Patients were aged between 44 and 100. All except 13, aged between 64 and 95, had known underlying health conditions. The deaths were between November 5th and December 18th. – PA