The first two confirmed cases of a particularly infectious Covid-19 variant that recently emerged in the United Kingdom have been confirmed in Canada, health authorities said on Saturday. Scientists say the new UK virus is about 40%-70% more transmissible than the original strain. Several other countries, including Australia, Italy, and the Netherlands say they detected cases of the new strain. Canada began rolling out the Pfizer vaccine earlier this month and started distributing Moderna's coronavirus vaccine across the country last Thursday. Canada has so far reported 541,616 cases of coronavirus, including 14,800 deaths.

Source: Mint December 27, 2020 03:24 UTC