WHO: UK virus variant raises alarm for healthcare

The head of the World Health Organization’s European region says a new variant of the coronavirus that emerged in Britain doesn’t appear to increase the severity of symptoms, but it does “raise alarm” for health care providers.

Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe, pointed to “new challenges brought by the mutating virus” and says the region is facing a “tipping point in the course of the pandemic.”

He says 22 countries in the region have detected the new “of concern” variant.