COVID-19 variant cases reported in the UK 2021

As of May 19, 2021, over 249 thousand cases of the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant had been reported in the United Kingdom. That variant, also known as the UK variant or the Kent variant, came to prominence in late 2020 and appeared to be transmitting between people easier than the variant that started the pandemic. Even though viruses mutating is not unexpected, the worry for scientists and the global population overall is how effective the vaccines currently in use are against those new variants.

The total number of cases in the UK can be found here. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

Number of reported cases of select COVID-19 variants in the United Kingdom (UK) as of May 19, 2021, by type*

Variant	Number of cases
B.1.1.7 (England, UK)	249,637
B.1.617.2 (India)	3,424
501Y.V2/ B.1.351 (South Africa)	904
B.1.525 (previously designated UK1188) (England, UK)	461
B.1.617 (India)	418
B1.1.318 (England, UK)	226
P.1 (Japan ex, Brazil)	143
A.23.1 with E484K (England, UK)	79
P.2 (Brazil)	60
B.1.1.7 with E484K (England, UK)	43
B.1.617.3 (India)	13
P.3 (Philippines)	6

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Release date

May 2021

More information

Region

United Kingdom

Survey time period

as of May 19, 2021

Supplementary notes

* Source adds that there is no agreed international naming system for variants. The graph shows the 'common' name by which the variants may be known.
Brackets show the country in which the variant was first detected.
Data shows both confirmed and probable cases resulting from the variants.
This statistic using original data from the Government Digital Service and includes copyright material licensed under © Crown, the Open Government License v3.0

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