New variant of Covid19 spreading in the UK (Photo: JAVIER TORRES/AFP) The new variant CH.1.1 of COVID19, also known as Orthrus, was first identified in the country in November and has been spreading rapidly. The British Health Safety Agency estimates the variant could be responsible for around 25% of cases in the country, but may already be dominant in some regions such as Balckburn, Oxford and North West Leicestershire.
“Analysis shows that UK coronavirus cases consist mainly of BQ.1 and its substrains. Two variants, CH.1.1 and XBB.1.5 appear to have growth advantage in the UK. Both are variants of the Omicron family,” the agency said.
The UK government said it would continue to monitor variants to understand the health situation and even anticipate possible new variants of the virus.
“Vaccination remains our best defense against future waves of COVID19, so it remains important that people get all the doses they are eligible for as soon as possible,” said Meera Chand, Director of Clinical and emerging infections at UK Health Inspectorate.