New Covid variant detected in travellers from Antigua as 4 more cases of Brazil strain identified

A NEW Covid variant has been found in England, Public Health England confirmed today.

It has emerged after two people returned from Antigua back to the south east of England.

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It was declared a Variant Under Investigation on March 4, with the variant containing two mutations which are linked to evading the vaccines.

No other cases have been found of this variant so far, after teams worked to speak to any close contacts.

It comes as four more cases of the Brazil variant, known as P.1, have been found in England.

Three cases emerged in south Gloucestershire and one in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

The cases in South Gloucestershire are all close or household contacts of the two existing cases in the area.

They were offered testing in response to the initial cases and specialist teams have worked to find any other contacts.

The person infected with the variant in Bradford tested positive for Covid-19 in late February after travelling back from Brazil via Paris on February 14.

The latest cases bring the total number of P.1 variant cases in the UK to ten – seven in England and three in Scotland, all of which have links to travel or to a previously confirmed case that has travelled to Brazil.

More to follow…

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