Health Ministry calls urgent meet to discuss emergence of mutated variant of coronavirus in UK

The Health Ministry has called an urgent meeting of its Joint Monitoring Group today to discuss the emergence of a mutated variant of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom.

Joint Monitoring Group (JMG), chaired by the Director-General of Health Services (DGHS), will meet this morning to discuss the issue of the mutated variant of the coronavirus reported from the UK. WHO’s India representative Dr Roderico H Ofrin, who is also a member of the JMG, is also likely to be a part of the meeting.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that the fast-moving new variant of the coronavirus is 70 per cent more infectious and appears to be driving the rapid spread in London and southern England.