New Technical Briefing @PHE_uk published 2pm

Update on the ‘UK variant’ - VOC/202012-01

Still very much concentrated in London, South East and East of England. Even in London more east than west

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950823/Variant_of_Concern_VOC_202012_01_Technical_Briefing_3_-_England.pdf

Now by far the predominant strain across the South and East

>80% of COVID cases are UK variant

But now fully taken hold in all areas like Midlands, South West & North where 50% of cases are the variant

The spread and concentration across the country clearly show in these maps

Purple maps show where UK variant is being detected, darker colours mean percentage of all cases

Finally, Test and Trace data (CTAS) on attack rate adds evidence that the UK variant is more transmissible:

- 15% of contacts of variant become infected vs 11% of the wild-type virus
- An est. 30-50% higher attack rate ergo more infectious (all age groups, all regions)

https://twitter.com/kallmemeg/status/1347588455174451203

As requested by @SarahRosemary3 the Technical Briefing of the UK variant in Wales is here @PublicHealthW :

https://khub.net/documents/135939561/405676950/Variant+of+Concern+202012_01+in+Wales+–+technical+briefing.pdf/623767c2-1834-2e64-9c95-dcc43fab01a7?t=1610115837342