Britain is investigating variant originating in India

LONDON: British health officials are investigating a COVID-19 variant originating in India but as yet they do not have enough evidence to classify it is as a variant of concern, Susan Hopkins of Public Health England (PHE) said on Sunday.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show on BBC television, Hopkins said: "We have not got enough data about this variant yet to be able to clarify whether it's a variant of concern. We have put it as a variant under investigation." "To escalate it up the ranking we need to know that it's increased transmissibility, increased severity, or vaccine-evading, and we just don't have that yet, but we're looking at the data on a daily basis."