Fast-spreading Covid-19 strain in UK: India calls urgent meeting of key committee

India called an urgent meeting of a key official committee for Monday to discuss the emergence of a mutated variant of the coronavirus in the UK, which spreads faster.

It is understood that the health ministry's joint monitoring group, headed by the Director General of Health Services (DGHS), will hold the meeting in the morning to discuss the issue of the Covid-19 mutated variant reported in the UK.

A number of European countries have banned flights from the UK as the British government warned that the potent new strain of the virus was "out of control" and imposed a stringent new stay-at-home lockdown.

Meanwhile, India's total number of Covid-19 infections has risen to 1,00,31,223 and the death toll mounted to 1,45,477, as per the updated figures from the Health Ministry.