The government is alert and there is no need to panic, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on December 21 amid concerns over the mutated variant of coronavirus in the United Kingdom.

On Saturday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had announced that the newly-identified strain of the virus may be up to 70 percent more transmissible. According to Health Secretary Matt Hancock, the new variant was "out of control". In addition, earlier, the Health Ministry called an emergency meeting of its top advisors to discuss the emergence of the mutated strain of coronavirus in the United Kingdom, which has led to the massive surge in cases and prompted several countries to stop incoming flights from the country. The Joint Monitoring Group is chaired by the Director-General of Health Services. Experts from AIIMS, ICMR, WHO representatives and others are also part of the emergency meeting.

Saudi Arabia and several European nations, including Italy, Belgium, France and the Netherlands, have banned flights to and from the United Kingdom after reports of the mutant strain came to the fore.

The WHO had tweeted late on Saturday that it was "in close contact with UK officials on the new COVID-19 virus variant and promised to update governments and the public as more is learned".

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