Two cases of NEW Philippines Covid-19 variant found in England, UK govt's health agency launches investigation

Public Health England (PHE) has started investigating after a new pair of mutated Covid-19 cases were discovered in England, it said in a statement on Tuesday. This particular strain was first detected recently in the Philippines.

One of the two cases of the variant, called VUI-21MAR-02 (P3), is linked to international travel, while the other is being looked into, PHE said.

The agency said it had been made aware on March 9 of 33 cases of the new variant of the virus in the Philippines.

The strain has the E484K and N501Y mutations in its spike proteins, which have also been discovered in Covid-19 variants from Brazil, South Africa and the UK.

The so-called Philippines variant has not been declared a "variant of concern" by health officials in the UK, although it does share the same mutations as several strains which have been classified as such.

PHE also said it had identified two more cases of the Brazil variant – in London and the West Midlands, both of which are linked to international travel – taking the UK's total number of cases of that strain to 12.

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