Chennai: The Union Health Ministry has called an urgent meeting of its Joint Monitoring Group on Monday to discuss the emergence of a mutated variant of the coronavirus in the UK, which has led to a surge in the infection rate there, even as discussions are underway to decide on banning flights from the affected country.
A number of European countries have already banned flights from the UK, as the British government warned that the potent new strain of the virus was âout of controlâ and imposed a stringent new stay-at-home lockdown from Sunday.
âThe Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) chaired by the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) will hold a meeting on Monday to discuss the issue of the mutated variant of the coronavirus reported from the UK. WHOâs India representative Dr Roderico H Ofrin, who is also a member of the JMG, is likely to participate in the meetingâ, sources said.
A surge in the infection rate caused by the new variant of the 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.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the new rules at a briefing from 10 Downing Street on Saturday evening, which means a planned five-day Christmas bubble of relaxed rules has been cancelled in favour of a new Tier 4 level to the current three-tier lockdown system to try and control the surge in infections being caused by the new mutation of the deadly virus.
âWe 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.
âThere 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 thisâ, he said.
Scientists first discovered the new variant which they believe is 70 percent more transmissible in a patient in September. And Public Health England notified the government on Friday when modelling revealed the full seriousness of the new strain.