Public Health England is investigating a new COVID variant – first reported in the Philippines – after two cases were found.

The variant – VUI-21MAR-02 (P3) – has been designated a variant under investigation, rather than variants such as the Manaus strain which is a variant of concern.

In a statement, the health authority said: “On 9 March PHE noted a report of 33 cases of a new variant reported by the Philippines.”

Live COVID updates from the UK and around the world

It added: “The variant includes a number of notable mutations including E484K and N501Y, which are found in several other variants of concern.

“Public Health England has identified two cases of this variant in England. One of the cases is linked with international travel and the other is currently under investigation.

“All appropriate public health interventions are being undertaken.”

It comes as two new cases of the P1 variant first reported in Brazil have been found in the London area of Haringey and the West Midlands.

Both cases are linked with travel to Brazil, PHE said.

The West Midlands case was identified after the person’s arrival at Birmingham Airport, where they were tested and quarantine as part of the managed hotel quarantine process.

The case in London was found through surge testing, which will be increased in the affected area.

Contact tracing teams have also been investigating to identify further contacts of the person.

This means that the number of P1 cases in the UK has increased to 12 – nine in England and three in Scotland, all of which have links to travel or to a previously confirmed case that has travelled to Brazil.

It comes as the UK recorded another 110 coronavirus-related deaths and 5,294 new cases in the latest 24-hour period.

A total of 125,690 people have now died within 28 days of a positive test for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, 24,839,906 people have now had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Related posts:

Man charged over online racial abuse of Premier League footballer British troops battle sandstorm to seize Islamic State weapons cache ‘Houses were shaking’: Neighbours in disbelief over fatal explosion in Lancashire street Four arrested over video ‘showing antisemitic abuse being shouted from car in north London’ Two children killed in crash on M1 near Milton Keynes Mental health hospital was closed after CCTV exposed staff being abusive towards patients Corbyn joins Assange supporters as US appeal against decision not to extradite WikiLeaks founder UK reports more than 100 coronavirus deaths for second day in a row Raducanu’s win could be most unexpected British sporting story ever UK set to have one million Omicron infections by end of December – but booster jabs effective, says UKHSA Prince Andrew accused of ‘victim blaming’ over demand for accuser’s mental health records Ruth Davidson says mental health history meant she almost did not run as Scottish Tory leader