The number of COVID cases of an India-dominant coronavirus variant increased more than two-fold for a second week in the U.K., while authorities also look into a new mutation of the virus.

Health officials have found 3,424 cases of the B1.617.2 India-dominant variant, noted Public Health England in a statement on Thursday. The number has increased from 1,313 in the previous week, and 520 a week earlier to that. The authorities are also monitoring another variant with an "unusual mutation profile", with 49 cases reported thus far, largely in Yorkshire, northeast England. Experts at PHE have stated that there is no evidence to indicate that vaccines will be less effective against severe illness from the India-dominant variant; however, the variant could be more transmissible compared to the Kent variant… (NDTV – Bloomberg, May 21, 2021)