Two cases of another new strain of Covid-19 linked to South Africa have been identified in the UK, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said, according to The Telegraph. "Both are contacts of cases who have traveled from South Africa over the past few weeks," the secretary explained at a Downing Street press conference. He added: "We are incredibly grateful to the South African government for the rigor of their science and the openness and the transparency with which they have rightly acted as we did when we discovered a new variant here." "This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK." The Health Secretary said both people who were diagnosed and those with whom they were in close contact have been quarantined, while immediate restrictions on travel from South Africa have been put in place, and the government says those who were in contact with anyone in South Africa in the past two weeks must quarantine. "These measures are temporary while we investigate further this new strain which is shortly to be analyzed at Porton Down."
