Michelle O’Neill says new UK Covid variant ‘not behaving any differently north of the border’

The new variant of Covid-19 cannot be behaving differently in Northern Ireland from the Republic, Stormont’s deputy First Minister said (Brian Lawless/PA)

The UK variant of Covid-19 cannot be behaving differently in Northern Ireland from the Republic, Stormont’s deputy First Minister said.

The highly-infectious mutation first discovered in southern England is becoming the dominant one in the Republic and helped produce an enormous post-Christmas spike in infection, medics believe.