442 new cases of UK coronavirus variant confirmed

Another 442 cases of the UK variant of the coronavirus and one new case of the South African strain have been confirmed in Lithuania, the country's National Public Health Surveillance Laboratory said on Friday.

Twenty-seven of the new cases of the British variant were found in 94 samples tested by Santaros Clinics' laboratory in Vilnius this week.

Some 415 out of 678 samples sent to the reference laboratory of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control contained the UK variant, and one, from Vilnius County, had the South African strain.

So far, 1,323 cases of the UK variant and eight cases of the South African strain have been confirmed in 3,641 Lithuanian samples genome-sequenced as part of the project coordinated by the NPHSL.