While hospital admissions have started to rise, the government has said it believes the new variant is milder than the Delta variant. The number of patients needing mechanical ventilation beds has also remained steady through December, unlike previous peaks in the pandemic.
Labelled a variant of concern only in May, the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 is spreading across the globe. According to the WHO, the Delta variant has spread to at least 80 countries as of 16th June.