 The Ministry of Health and Wellness has noted the public concern about the reported new strain of the novel coronavirus. On December 14, 2020, the United Kingdom Public Health Agency reported a variant of SARS-CoV-2 in 1,108 individuals. The newly identified strain has been in circulation since September 2020 in the United Kingdom. Chief Medical Officer Dr Sharon Belmart-George in a statement informed that the Ministry remains in dialogue with international and regional partners on the preliminary analysis. There is no indication at this point of increased severity or harmfulness associated with this new variant or any challenges it shall pose to the effectiveness of the vaccines currently available. Preliminary guidance has been received from the Pan American Health Organization, World Health Organization and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. The public health team at the Ministry of Health and Wellness is reviewing all information in relation to this new threat, in consultation with our international and regional public health agencies to guide the way forward in reducing the possible impact to our country. This situation further proves the importance of stricter adherence to all protocols recommended to reduce transmission of the virus. There is need for maintaining and even increasing our vigilance at all levels where risks have been identified. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization, WHO says it is monitoring the situation in the UK. Experts have been reviewing data for detailed analysis on the new variant. Dr Maria Van Kokov is the WHO's technical lead for COVID-19. What they're trying to also do is look at what is associated with this variant and what is associated with people's behavior in terms of the interventions and applying and complying with the interventions that are in place. It could be the variant, a combination of the behavioral factors and both. And so that's what they're looking at right now. We expect more analysis and results from our colleagues in the UK over the coming days, coming weeks as they continue to look at this. They're also doing some epidemiologic investigations of individuals with this variant compared to those without this variant. They're doing detailed studies of patients in hospitals to look at the clinical course and severity. But again, we have no indication that there's a change in disease presentation or mortality. So that's good news. And then there's the more studies of the neutralization. Of particular interest to the WHO is the reproduction rate of the SARS-CoV-2 variant against established interventions. We don't have any indication that it's changed how it spreads, meaning like it's a respiratory pathogen. So it spreads between me and you through these particles in the air. Some are big called droplets, some are small called aerosols. But mainly what is happening is that the virus spreads between people who are in close contact with another. That's still the same. There are detailed epi investigations that are underway and we will let you know if anything in that space changes. But the virus likes people who are in close contact with one another. So when we say there are things that you need to do with your physical distancing, you're wearing a mask, you're washing your hands, all of that remains true in terms of protecting yourself and protecting the ability of you to spread from somebody else. The WHO says thus far there have been single cases of the new strain reported in Australia, Iceland, Italy and Denmark.