Ireland confirms UK coronavirus variant present

Reuters

Published Dec 25, 2020 16:03

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland confirmed on Friday the presence of a highly infectious new coronavirus variant whose presence in the United Kingdom has brought travel bans from a number of countries.

"I can confirm that we have detected the new UK variant of SARS-CoV-2 by whole genome sequencing at the National Virus Reference Laboratory" in University College Dublin, Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan said in a statement.