Ministers are finalising changes to the travel categories due to be announced this afternoon, with the hopes of millions of Britons hanging on the decisions.
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GRANT Shapps has confirmed the Nepal variant - hours after the World Health Organisation slapped down reports of a new mutation.
The Transport Secretary said this afternoon there s a sort of Nepal mutation of the Indian variant , which has caused concern .
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Nepal - which neighbours India - has experienced a horrifying surge in infectionsCredit: Reuters
Holiday hopes for thousands will have been dashed by the move, which Mr Shapps also said was driven by a rise in Covid cases in the popular summer spot.
He said: I want to be straight with people - this is a difficult decision to make but in the end we ve seen two things that s caused concern.
Nepal Covid variant spread by Mount Everest climbers is detected in US: Mutation is potentially vaccine-defeating and even more infectious than other strains
A health expert says a variant of the coronavirus has emerged in Nepal, with at least one confirmed case in the US
It is said to be closely related to the Indian variant and South African variant, meaning it is more transmissible and could evade vaccines more easily
As many as 13 travelers from Nepal to Japan were spotted carrying the new strain, leading to theories that emerged during a hike on Mount Everest
Doctors tell DailyMail.com they have not been able to confirm infections of the new variant, but that it could spread rapidly among unvaccinated people