Two new variants linked to the COVID-19 variant first found in India have been identified in England.
Public Health England says the two variants share the same lineage but a distinct fingerprint of genetic mutations as the Indian variant known as B.1.617.
The two variants are designated as "variants under investigation.
Public Health England says it has identified 202 cases of one of the variants and five cases of the other that are "geographically dispersed in England".
It said there is no evidence that these variants cause more severe disease or make the current vaccines any less effective.
According to the Johns Hopkins University, UK has more than 4.4 million cases with more than 127,000 deaths.
The total number of cases around the world has surpassed 149 million with more than 3.1 million deaths.
[Source: Skynews]
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