BORIS Johnson will host a Cabinet call “shortly” and will later hold a press conference with the chief medical officer Chris Whitty and the chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, Downing Street has said.
Johnson is under growing pressure to further tighten coronavirus rules across England amid fears a new variant is accelerating the spread of the disease.
Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, said the UK has informed the World Health Organisation that the new variant coronavirus can spread more rapidly.
READ MORE: Covid in England: Calls for tighter rules as new strain causes concern
“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.
“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.
“Given this latest development, it is now more vital than ever that the public continue to take action in their area to reduce transmission.”
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