New UK COVID-19 Strain Detected in Australia in November

NSW Chief Health officer Kerry Chant at a press conference in Homebush in Sydney, Australia on Aug. 17, 2020. Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

The new mutant strain of COVID-19 that has forced the United Kingdom to go into lockdown was detected in Australia in late November, according to the New South Wales (NSW) health officials.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant explained that two Australians returning home from the UK tested positive to mutated variant of the virus.