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A number of European countries have banned flights from the UK as the British government warned that the potent new strain of the virus was “out of control” and imposed a stringent new stay-at-home lockdown from Sunday.
“The Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) chaired by the Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) will hold a meeting on Monday morning to discuss the issue of the mutated variant of the coronavirus reported from the UK. WHO’s India representative Dr Roderico H Ofrin, who is also a member of the JMG, is likely to participate in the meeting,” a source said.
A surge in the infection rate caused by the new variant of the novel coronavirus has led to millions entering a stringent new stay-at-home lockdown in the UK from Sunday, with non-essential shops and businesses now closed.
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“It seems that the spread is now being driven by the new variant of the virus,” Johnson said.
“We have alerted the World Health Organisation and are continuing to analyse the available data to improve our understanding,” said Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England.
“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 underway to confirm this,” he said.