PHE spots FOUR more cases of Brazil Covid variant in South Gloucestershire and Yorkshire and spots ANOTHER mutant strain ‘from Antigua’ in the South East

• P.1 strain picked up in three people in South Gloucestershire and one in Bradford
• Latest cases bring the total number of Brazilian variant cases in the UK to ten
• Antigua strain found in two people in South East England not a concern, said PHE

Four more cases of the Brazilian coronavirus variant have been spotted in the UK, Public Health England revealed today.

The strain, known as P.1, was picked up in three patients in South Gloucestershire who were all close contacts or family members of two existing cases in the area.

Another person tested positive for the variant in Bradford, West Yorkshire, after returning from Brazil via Paris on February 14. 

Contact tracing teams have followed up close contacts of the individual and advised them to isolate and get a test.

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 the patient have links to travel or to a previously confirmed case that has travelled to Brazil.

Meanwhile, PHE said another new Covid variant which shares mutations with both the Kent and Brazilian variant had been identified in two patients. 

The ‘Variant Under Investigation’ – which has not yet been named – was detected in tests carried out in the South East of England on March 4. Both patients had recently travelled to Antigua in the Caribbean.

The variant contains the spike mutations E484K, found on the Brazilian and South African variants, and N501Y, also present on the Kent strain.

But PHE said it was not concerned about the new strain because it is missing specific deletions in its genetic code that make those other strains more transmissible.

Four more cases of the Brazilian coronavirus variant have been spotted in the UK, Public Health England revealed today

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