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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: โWe have not got enough data about this variant yet to be able to clarify whether itโs a variant of concern. We have put it as a variant under investigation.โ
โTo escalate it up the ranking we need to know that itโs increased transmissibility, increased severity, or vaccine-evading, and we just donโt have that yet, but weโre looking at the data on a daily basis.โ
PHE has said it has identified 77 cases of the variant in Britain.
Earlier, environment minister George Eustice said Prime Minister Boris Johnsonโs trip to India later this month should go ahead despite rising cases in the country.
โIt is important that business and the business of politics, if you like, does continue,โ he said, adding that an expert committee periodically reviews decisions about whether to permit travel to certain countries.
