WHO says authorities investigating new COVID-19 variant in England

Myth 1: Mental illnesses are rare | On October 7, the World Health Organization said “close to one billion people globally have a mental disorder”. (Image: Reuters)

The World Health Organization is aware of a new variant of COVID-19 that has emerged in Britain, but there is no evidence the strain behaves differently to existing types of the virus, it said on Monday.

“We are aware of this genetic variant reported in 1,000 individuals in England,” the WHO’s top emergencies expert Mike Ryan told a news briefing in Geneva. “Authorities are looking at its significance. We have seen many variants, this virus evolves and changes over time.”