New Delhi, December 21:  The Health Ministry called an urgent meeting of its Joint Monitoring Group on Monday to discuss the emergence of a mutated variant of the coronavirus in the UK. Commenting on the discovery of the new strain of coronavirus in UK, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said, "The government is alert. There is no need to panic." Britain warned this new strain of coronavirus was "out of control", and imposed a stringent new stay-at-home lockdown from Sunday.

According to reports, the joint monitoring group chaired by the Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) will meet today around 10 am to discuss the mutated variant of coronavirus reported from the UK. COVID-19 Vaccination in India: First Coronavirus Vaccine Shot to People Expected in Any Week of January 2021, Says Harsh Vardhan.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday announced the new rules at a briefing from 10 Downing Street on Saturday evening with several restrictions.

Several European nations have banned flights to and from Britain. No decision has been taken by India on any flight ban from the UK but the matter will be given serious consideration, said people quoted in the report.  Italy on Sunday said it has detected a new coronavirus strain with mutations in a person who recently returned from the United Kingdom. Italy will also suspend flights to and from Britain after the United Kingdom issued an alert over a new strain of coronavirus. Austria's Health Ministry informed that it would also impose a flight ban, the details of which were still being worked out.

Earlier in the day,  Vardhan said that India can be in a position to give first COVID-19 vaccine shot to people in January 2021. According to a tweet by ANI, the Health Minister said that the Central government along with state governments has been making preparations at state, district and block levels for the past 4 months.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 21, 2020 01:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).