British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the “British” strain of the coronavirus more deadly than the conventional one – while the standard variant infects about 10 people out of every thousand infected, the new mutation kills 13-14.

The “British” strain is also thought to be able to transmit from person to person 50-70% faster than the normal variant COVID-19. This variant of the virus has now become “mainstream” in the population, according to British health officials.

According to the WHO, the ‘British’ variant of the coronavirus has already been detected in 60 countries around the world, including Cyprus.