The documents also suggest officials from Public Health England are poised to escalate one of the variants to one “of concern”. All three of the variants – known as B16171, B16172 and B16173 – have been designated “under investigation” by Public Health England. However, social contact rules will still apply here, so no indoor mixing between households and limits on outdoor mixing. “Public Health England are clearly very concerned about the rapid spread of this variant – as they should be,” she said. “Public Health England is monitoring the situation closely and appropriate public health interventions, including targeted testing and enhanced contact tracing, are being undertaken,” he said.

Source: The Guardian May 06, 2021 18:10 UTC