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* UK says new COVID strain spreads more quickly
* Govt to consider urgent action to curb rise in cases
* Urgent work to see if new strain affects mortality rate
(Recasts with chief medical officer)
By Michael Holden
LONDON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson was discussing with his senior ministers on Saturday
what urgent action to take after it was confirmed that a new
strain of the COVID-19 virus could spread more quickly and lead
to a surge in cases.
England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said that while
there was no current evidence the variant of the novel
coronavirus caused a higher mortality rate or impacted vaccines,
urgent work was underway to confirm this.
"We have alerted the World Health Organisation and are
continuing to analyse the available data to improve our
understanding," Whitty said in a statement.
The government said on Monday that a rise in infections
across London and southeast England might be linked to a new,
more transmissible variant of the virus.
Johnson will hold a news conference with Whitty and the
government's chief scientific adviser at about 1600 GMT amid
suggestions that he will announce new urgent measures to try to
address the rise in cases caused by the variant COVID strain.
Britain reported 28,507 new COVID-19 cases on Friday and 489
deaths, with the reproduction "R" number estimated to be between
1.1 and 1.2, meaning the number of cases is rapidly increasing.
Johnson said on Friday he hoped England would not need to go
into a third lockdown after Christmas and has so far resisted
calls to change plans to ease restrictions for five days over
the festive period, allowing three separate households to meet
indoors.
Much of the country, including London, is currently in the
highest of a three-tier system of restrictions to curb the
spread. The Daily Telegraph newspaper said ministers could now
announce curbs on travel between southeast England, including
the capital, and the rest of the country.
"Failing to act decisively now, will mean further suffering.
We must keep asking ourselves 'are we doing enough, are we
acting quickly enough'," Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome
Trust and a member of the government's Scientific Advisory Group
for Emergencies (SAGE), said on Twitter.
The opposition Labour Party said the tiered system had
failed to curb the virus's spread.
"It has been apparent for some days that the virus is again
out of control in parts of the country," said Jonathan Ashworth,
Labour's health spokesman.
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper;
Editing by Ros Russell, William Maclean, Catherine Evans)
