A man walks past a graffiti of a Frankenstein wearing a protective face mask on a doorway amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Galway, Ireland, December 22, 2020. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
DUBLIN: Ireland confirmed on Friday the presence of a highly infectious new coronavirus variant whose presence in the United Kingdom has brought travel bans from a number of countries.
"I can confirm that we have detected the new UK variant of SARS-CoV-2 by whole genome sequencing at the National Virus Reference Laboratory" in University College Dublin, Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan said in a statement.
"Further testing in the coming days and weeks will establish the extent to which it is present here," he added.
