UK health authorities elevate Indian Covid strain to 'variant of concern'

The health authorities in England elevated the Indian Covid variant from 'under investigation' to 'variant of concern' on Friday amid a spike in Covid-19 cases.

Health authorities in England on Friday elevated one subtype of the so-called Indian variant from under investigation to a Variant of Concern (VOC) following a rise in the number of cases in the UK and evidence of community transmission. Following a rise in UK cases and evidence of community transmission, we've reclassified VUI-21APR-02 (a #COVID19 variant first detected in India) as a Variant of Concern.Read more here: https://t.co/BWDZ837z7p — Public Health England (@PHE_uk) May 7, 2021 The B.1.617.2, classified as a Variant Under Investigation (VUI) on April 28, is now known as VOC-21APR-02 after it was found to be at least as transmissible as the so-called Kent variant, detected in England last year and the dominant variant in the UK so far.