London will move into England's highest tier of COVID-19 restrictions, the government said on Monday, citing increased infection rates that may be partly linked to a new variant of the coronavirus.<br /><br />UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said more than 1,000 cases of the new variant had been identified, mainly in southeastern England.<br /><br />Although there was currently nothing to suggest the new strain was likely to cause more serious disease or that it would not respond to a vaccine, Hancock said that it could be contributing to higher infection rates.
