United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson sent shockwaves across the globe when he recently announced that the new strain of coronavirus spreading in the country is 70 percent more infectious than the original.

Following the move, many European countries started to close their borders with the country, with banning flights to the UK.

As the British government warned that a potent new strain of the virus was “out of control” countries like the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Belgium and others, imposed flight ban to the UK.

In India, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Monday said the government was monitoring the developments related to the new mutant coronavirus strain that was found in Britain, and asked citizens to not panic about it.

“At this time, I would say, dont get hassled with imaginary situations, imaginary talks and imaginary panic. The government is fully alert. In the last one year, as you all have seen, we took all necessary measures to ensure the safety of people. If you ask me, there’s no reason to panic so much," the
Health Minister said.

Harsh Vardhan’s remarks came shortly after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged the government in a tweet: "New mutation of corona virus has emerged in UK, which is a super- spreader. I urge central government to ban all flights from UK immediately."

The mutant virus was first detected in southeast England in September. It is quickly becoming the dominant strain in London and other parts of the UK.

Over the last one week, the number of cases in London doubled, with at least 60 percent of the infections being from this strain.

While the variant is found across UK, it is heavily concentrated in London and South East England.