The spread of a new mutated strain of Corona in Britain

The British government said it was "closely following" the spread of a new mutated sub-strain of the Corona virus, in light of the high number of infections in the country, and it was not yet clear whether it was more contagious.

The mutant AY4.2 is a highly contagious sub-branded Delta that first appeared in India and caused a high outbreak in late spring and early summer.

A British government spokesman said: "We are following the new mutant closely and will not hesitate to take action if necessary," but stressed that "nothing suggests it is spreading at a higher speed."

This comes at a time when the United Kingdom is recording an increasing number of infections, exceeding 40,000 every day, which is a much higher rate than recorded in the rest of Europe.

Britain has counted a total of about 139,000 deaths from the epidemic.

The director of the Institute of Genetics at the University of California, Francois Ballou, said that the new mutation is not the reason for the recent rise in the number of infections in the United Kingdom.

He added that their appearance did not constitute a situation similar to the appearance of the alpha and delta mutant, which were more transmissible (50 percent or more) than all strains at that time.

The new mutant is almost non-existent outside the UK, except for three cases recorded in the US and a few in Denmark, and has almost disappeared there since.

Work is underway to test its resistance to vaccines.

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