"As of September 18, there were 54 confirmed cases in the UK, 48 in England and 6 in Scotland. No cases have been identified in Wales or Northern Ireland. There were no known deaths due to COVID-19 among these cases," the agency said in a statement.
Out of 48 cases in England, 30 were identified as part of a probe into a care home outbreak in the East of England, the UKHSA said. A total of 10 cases in England resulted in hospitalization, while two were tested in an emergency department.
The UK health agency said the variant, which has a large number of mutations, was first identified in August. A total of 137 cases have been sequenced in 15 countries as of September 18, including Australia, Canada, the UK and the United States.
The BA.2.86 strain was put under monitoring by the World Health Organization and prompted the National Health Service in England to roll out its COVID-19 and flu vaccination campaign one month ahead of schedule.