The coronavirus infection rate is rising in St Helens and the wider region PUBLIC health chiefs say they believe a more contagious strain of coronavirus has already made its way to Merseyside. The variant, named VUI-202012/01, is believed to be up 70 per cent more transmissible than previous forms, and is thought to be what has been driving high infection rates in the South East. The UK recorded another 36,804 confirmed cases of Covid-19 today, the highest daily increase since the pandemic began. Today’s tally also tops the previous record of 35,928 new cases set on Sunday. London and large parts of South East have already been placed into Tier 4 restrictions – essentially locking them down – on Sunday due to high prevalence of the new variant, with fears that more areas might follow.