Another new strain of Covid-19 has been detected in the UK after being found in three states in India and has been marked as a variant of concern in India.
It has been announced by Public Health England that there been 169 cases of Delta Plus in England since it was first found on May 21 and labelled it as a variant under investigation, Wales Online reports.
Nicola Sturgeon confirmed yesterday (June 22) that Scotland's current lockdown restrictions will be extended due to the rising Covid cases and allow the vaccination programme to "to catch up".
READ MORE Nicola Sturgeon's Manchester travel ban 'treats north of England with contempt'
Scotland is now expected to move to Level Zero on July 19 and as of yesterday the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases is 257,742.
Speaking about new Covid variants and what Scotland will look like beyond level 0, the First Minister said: "While we are considering the impact of vaccination on self-isolation, isolation will continue to be necessary in certain circumstances, especially for those who test positive.
"There will also be a need to manage outbreaks as and when they arise - the levels system will still be available to help us do that if necessary.
"We all hope that we will not see a further variant, against which our vaccines are less effective; but we need to retain the ability to respond if that happens - both with updated vaccines and, if necessary, with other measures."
This comes after new data showed increasing Covid-19 infections in Edinburgh and placed the capital above the Level Four threshold.
The latest Public Health Scotland data as of June 19 shows that there were 191 new cases recorded in one day in Edinburgh.
Now, a new variant dubbed Delta Plus has been detected 169 times in the UK up to June 18 and 16 news cases in the last 7 days.
The mutated strain has been found in 16 people in Maharashtra with more cases in Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.
There have also been cases found in the USA, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Poland, Nepal, Russia and China, according to the BBC.
India's Union Health Ministry said Delta Plus shows increased transmissibility - meaning it spreads even more easily than other strains and it also appears to attack lung cells more easily and could be resistant to a form of antibody therapy.
The Economic Times says the mutation of the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) is officially named AY.1.
It carries the K417N, seen in the Beta variant, which is believed to affect vaccine efficacy.
Another new variant under investigation has also been detected in the UK - from Thailand and Egypt.
It is C.36.3 and there have been more than 130 cases since it was found on May 21.
