A coronavirus variant first discovered in the United Kingdom now accounts for up to 70 per cent of Covid-19 infections across Pakistan, a research centre studying the disease in the country said.

"There is a 60pc to 70pc prevalence of the UK variant in Pakistan (today)," Professor Dr Muhammad Iqbal Chaudhry, director at the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, told Reuters, adding that this figure was 2pc in January.

The ICCBS works on Covid-19 samples and provides research and data to the government.

The "UK variant", known as B.1.1.7 and first identified in Britain late last year, is believed to be more transmissible than other previously dominant coronavirus variants. Chaudhry added, however, that it was yet to be established if the variant was more deadly.

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