AY4.2.. Britain closely follows a mutant that branched off from "Delta"

 The British government confirmed, on Tuesday, that it is “closely following” the spread of a new sub-mutant of the Corona virus, in conjunction with the high number of infections in the country.

The mutant AY4.2 is a branch of the highly contagious Delta strain, which first appeared in India and caused epidemics in late spring and early summer.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has detected AY.4.2 in England, making up around 6% of all cases in the country, according to the latest data from the end of September.

"We are following the new 'mutant' closely and will not hesitate to take action if necessary," a government spokesman said. But he stressed, "Nothing suggests that it is spreading at a higher speed."

Nevertheless, the spokesman added: "There is no evidence of this, but as expected, we are closely monitoring this matter," according to the British "Sky News" network.

For his part, the director of the Institute of Genetics at the University of California, Francois Ballou, considered that the new mutant "is not the reason for the recent rise in the number of infections in the United Kingdom."

The researcher added that their appearance does not constitute "a situation similar to the appearance of the "alpha" and "delta" mutant, which were more transmissible (by 50 percent or more) than all strains at that time," according to "AFP".

And the United Kingdom recently recorded an increasing number of infections, exceeding 40,000 each day, which is a much higher rate than recorded in the rest of Europe.