[klat]

Surging cases in the UK have left the country behind the rest of Europe with former US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Scott Gottlieb calling for "urgent research" into a mutation of the Delta variant known as Delta Plus.

Britain reported 45,140 new cases on Sunday (Oct 17), the highest daily jump since mid-July, around when Prime Minister Boris Johnson authorised the removal of most Covid-19-related restrictions in what was dubbed "Freedom Day".

The Delta plus strain Dr Gottlieb highlighted includes the K417N mutation, which has also stoked concern because that’s also harboured by the Beta variant that’s associated with an increased risk of reinfection.

We need urgent research to figure out if this Delta Plus is more transmissible, has partial immune evasion," Dr Gottlieb said in a tweet on Sunday. "There's no clear indication that it's considerably more transmissible, but we should work to more quickly characterise these and other new variants. We have the tools."