England identifies a new strain of the coronavirus

London British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held emergency talks with his cabinet on Saturday to discuss strategies to slow the spread of COVID-19, after government scientific advisers said that a new variant of the coronavirus is spreading

A government advisory group on the coronavirus believes the new species could spread more quickly, UK Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said, citing data from preliminary models and rising incidence rates in southern England.

He added that there is currently no evidence to indicate that the new strain, which the UK Public Health Authority has identified through genomic monitoring, is more deadly or that it ignores current vaccines and treatments.

“We have warned the World Health Organization and we are continuing to analyze the available data to improve our understanding,” Whitty said in a statement.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical director on COVID-19, told reporters this week that the UN health agency “I had no proof that this variant behaves differently” and that it was comparable to a species initially reported among mink in Europe. He said scientists would study the strain of the virus to see if there could be a difference in the way it elicits an immune response in humans.

Boris Johnson is expected to announce changes to current infection prevention restrictions at a press conference later Saturday.