UK says no evidence symptoms worse or different with new COVID-19 variant

There is no evidence that a new variant of the coronavirus identified in England causes worse or different symptoms, England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said on Monday.

"There are many variants. It just happens that this one has quite a few more mutations than some of the other variants, so that's the reason why we've taken it particularly seriously," Whitty said.

"But there's nothing to suggest that the symptoms are different, that the testing is different, or that the clinical outcome is different for this variant," he said during a news conference.