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Scientists have confirmed Leicester as one of 57 areas in the country where the new mutant strain of coronavirus has been detected.
The virus variant is not believed to be more harmful, but is understood to be 70% more transmissible and led to an increase in cases in south-east England and London that led to tighter Level 4 restrictions and a government crackdown against Christmas meetings,
The Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) monitoring group had identified the importance of VUI-202012/01 and has now revealed the full extent of its spread so far with cases here as well as in Liverpool, Leicester, Manchester , Birmingham and Bristol.
Locations near the cities of Leeds, Oxford, Coventry and Cambridge also produced samples.
These cases could only be a snapshot of the real picture, as not all Covid-19 patients have samples taken so their virus can sequence their genome.
Experts are currently analyzing 3,000 samples suspected of being the new variant.
Public Health England had previously only announced 1,000 confirmed cases.
Jeffrey Barrett, lead statistical geneticist at COG-UK, said there was a time lag, so the data was from the first week of December when England came out of the second national lockdown.
He said: “They are relatively small numbers, but I think it is important to note that it is certainly not the case that this is completely geographically limited to what the current Level 4 area is.”
Areas of Great Britain where the new Covid strain has been identified according to most recent data:
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A group of six in Glasgow and the surrounding areas of Linwood, Newton Mearns, Airdrie, Bonhill and Lenzie.
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Near Rothbury in rural Northumberland
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In Newcastle-upon-Tyne and in Gateshead, near Low Fell.
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Bishop of Auckland in County Durham
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Near Penrith in Cumbria
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Middlesbrough
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Hurst Green in Lancashire
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Cleckheaton
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In Pocklington, near Hull
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Two areas in northern Merseyside, near Crosby and Kirkby
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An area of central Manchester
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Near Maltby in South Yorkshire
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One area in Wrexham and one in Burton, Cheshire
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Near Matlock in Staffordshire
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Near Eakring in Nottinghamshire
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Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire
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Near Stafford in Staffordshire
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In the Leicester area
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Upper Hambleton, near Oakham
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Dereham near Norwich
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Stowmarket near Ipswich
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Near Willingham in Cambridgeshire
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In Kettering
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In Kenilworth near Coventry
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Close to the Oldbury area of Birmingham
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In Worcester
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In Hereford
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In Fishguard, Neath, Bridgend, Barry and Newport
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In bristol
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Near Bridgwater and near Exeter
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Near Dorchester on the south coast
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At Newbury near Thatcham
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In New Alresford, near Winchester
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Near Billingshurst
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In Dorking
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Near Hailsham
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Near Canterbury (where the tension is believed to have originated)
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In the center of London
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Near oxford
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In Welwyn Garden City, near St Albans
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Near Braintree
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In Stagsden, near Bedford
(Image: Mirror)
The new variant led to London and parts of the south and east of England rushing into the new Tier 4 regime over the weekend, effectively canceling Christmas plans and imposing measures similar to previous national closures.
Dr Barrett said the most up-to-date data from community testing also found one of the mutations in this variant.
He added: “It is certainly not isolated in one place, it has started to spread to many places.”
Earlier this week, LeicestershireLive reported that the directors of public health here had been reported that the new strain is likely already present in Leicester and Leicestershire.
They urged people to be more strict with hand washing and face covering from social distancing to try to keep it from getting out of control.
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