BRITISH OFFICIALS TO WARN OVER INDIAN CORONAVIRUS VARIANT - Reports

 Reuters News 7 May 2021

© 2021 Getty Images PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 22: A worker tests a sample on February 22, 2021 in Portsmouth, England. NHS Test and Trace have provided Portsmouth City Council with the lateral flow tests, coming as part of a new pilot to enable local public health leaders to start testing eligible critical workers not covered by other rapid community testing programmes. The community testing initiative, which is in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care, launched at the Guildhall in Portsmouth to help drive down transmission rates. The site offers asymptomatic testing for those critical workers who cannot work from home and those who, during the course of their work, have regular contact with other people. (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)

LONDON (Reuters) - British officials could declare one of the new coronavirus strains first found in India a "variant of concern", the BBC and Guardian reported on Friday, due to evidence that it spreads more quickly than the original version of the virus.

Scientists and doctors have recommended that one version of the variant first found in India, known as B.1.617.2, is designated a "variant of concern", as it appears to have been spreading more quickly in the United Kingdom than other variants, the BBC said.

The original India variant, B.1.617, was first detected in October, but Public Health England (PHE) has categorised three different subtypes, all with slightly different mutations.

While B.1.617.2 seems to be as transmissible as the Kent variant which fuelled much of Britain's second COVID-19 wave, there is no evidence it is resistant to current vaccines, the BBC said, citing a source.

Other variants of concern include variants first identified in Kent, south-east England, as well as South Africa and Brazil.

Public Health England (PHE) said that weekly variant data, which had been due on Thursday, was delayed due to a "processing issue," though the Guardian said that the update was delayed due to local elections.

PHE had no immediate comment on the reports.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout)