Public Health England has revealed that it had detected another Covid variant in Yorkshire and the Humber which it has assigned as a ‘Variant Under Investigation’ VUI-21MAY-01. The strain, temporarily named AV.1, has been spotted 49 times so far.
New Variant Under Investigation
“A further variant, VUI-21MAY-01, has been designated as a Variant Under Investigation (VUI) by PHE.
The variant is from a lineage which was designated a signal in monitoring on 6 May 2021 based on an unusual mutation profile. PHE has been monitoring the variant since April.
There have been 49 cases of VUI-21MAY-01 across the country to date, mainly concentrated in Yorkshire and the Humber.
There is currently no evidence that this variant causes more severe disease or renders the vaccines currently deployed any less effective. PHE is carrying out increased laboratory testing to better understand the impact of the mutations on the behaviour of the virus.”
